Federal employees are increasingly concerned about a long shutdown
This post was updated.
With the government shutdown almost four weeks long, federal workers are arguably feeling the brunt of it. There are about 380,000 federal employees currently on furlough and about 420,000 working without pay after being deemed essential.
President Trump recently claimed that many federal workers — even those who aren’t being paid — “are the biggest fans of what we are doing,” referring to the shutdown.
But some experts and federal workers are hearing and feeling differently. Despite Trump signing a bill guaranteeing back pay for federal employees, many workers are fed up with the lack of progress being made on the shutdown.
“I think most federal workers want the federal government to be reopened,” Raymond James Washington Policy Analyst Ed Mills told Yahoo Finance’s “The First Trade” recently. “When I go around talking to folks here in D.C. about this shutdown, there’s a lot more uncertainty about this one than previous ones. They are very concerned about how long it’s going to last.”
Tens of thousands of federal employees are seeking unemployment benefits and the numbers are growing, according to the New York Times. And, some have even turned to crowdfunding to stabilize their cash flow until their paychecks return.
“Nine of 15 federal agencies have been affected by the current shutdown,” the Wall Street Journal reported. With federal employees being forced to work without pay, Mills noted that the lack of income is starting to affect their lives.
“[People] say they’re OK now, but come next month when bills are due…” Mills said, “A lot of families, single-family earners, are very concerned about daycare payments and exactly how they make their mortgage or their rent.”
‘I know how hard my husband works’
Many federal employees can’t even afford diapers for their young children.
“I can’t not change them. They can’t survive like that,” Jojo, who omitted her last name due to not being allowed to speak to the press, told HuffPost. “You have to take care of the little ones. You don’t want to jeopardize their health and wellness.”
Meghan Nester, an Alabama resident whose husband has been furloughed from a NASA facility in Huntsville, told the Washington Post that the government shutdown length will get “a lot more real” when the next paycheck doesn’t come through.
“I know how hard my husband works,” she said, “and it must be demoralizing to be sent home with no pay and no resolution in sight.”
Rusty Long, an architect for the Agriculture Department, told the Wall Street Journal that his paycheck is his family’s only source of income.