On the recordJanuary 23, 2019
Yesterday marked 1 full month of this unnecessary government shutdown, and 800,000 Federal employees are set to miss their second paycheck later this week. The shutdown is not only affecting those workers, but we are seeing ripple effects of agencies being closed or staff being downsized. Food banks are seeing massive increases, some almost twelvefold, in demand from Federal employees, but also people who rely on help like Section 8 housing checks or SNAP benefits. Here is some of what I am hearing. I heard from a constituent who is a career employee at the FAA that ``it is frustrating that thousands of hardworking Federal employees have become innocent pawns in the current Washington standoff between Congress and the President over funding for border security. As an integral part of the Nation's air traffic control system, my focus has always been and will always be on safety.'' He goes on: ``My dedicated colleagues and I at the FAA work tirelessly in furtherance of the agency's mission of providing the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world, despite some of us now doing so without pay.'' I have also heard from a woman whose husband is a Federal agent at the FDA. ``My question,'' she says, ``is how are we going to make ends meet without a paycheck from my husband this Friday? We adopted our sweet son a year and a half ago, draining our savings account to do so. We currently do not have savings to fall back on during this time.…
