Pink slips pile up as NASA left dangling

As thousands of NASA employees and contractors in Houston wait for some clarity on their future, they continue to toil away on Constellation, the shuttle and programs they've been told will go away.
In a discussion of possible timelines for budget negotiations, SciGuy blogger Eric Berger notes the effect on demoralized workers:
I think that's the definition of being in limbo.
A reader named RogueLeader points out that the wait's already over for hundreds who've been getting pink slips:
People are being laid off by the hundreds as we speak. NASA Administrator has enacted the program termination liability bill, which states that Programs (i.e. contractors) must set aside millions in order to terminate the contract. As such, hundreds of us are being laid off as of June 30th..... in order to set aside said $millions.
SHOULD congress drag their decision, then things may be ramped back up, and the waste of money continues.
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