Some federal workers feel pinch as shutdown enters 7th day

  • Park Police Horse Mounted Patrol Unit Officer Baum, who is working without pay due to the government shutdown, puts Monty into a horse trailer at the end of their day, across from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018, in Washington, during a partial government shutdown.


Updated 12/28/2018 8:53 AM




"I've had members come to me saying they are returning holiday and Christmas presents they bought because they are worried about paying rent," National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon said in an interview Thursday. "Congress should be doing everything in its power to get the government up and running again."


Democrats have little incentive to negotiate until they take over the House of Representatives on Jan. 3 and gain leverage in the talks. And Justin Goodman, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said both sides remain far apart.

"We on the Republican side do not want to vote for a bill the president won't sign," Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, told reporters in the Capitol Thursday. "So hopefully Senator Schumer and the Democrat leadership will come up with a number that satisfies the president for border security."

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"They can call it anything they want to, barrier or fence," Roberts said.


Congressional leaders remained out of town, while Trump returned to Washington early Thursday from an unannounced visit to U.S. troops in Iraq. The Senate and House held brief sessions on Thursday but took no votes. Lawmakers will be given 24 hours' notice if there is a breakthrough that would require a vote.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., urged the House to pass a Senate bill that would guarantee full retroactive pay to federal employees once their agencies reopen.


Trump tweeted that most federal employees who are losing pay because of the shutdown are Democrats, though he provided no evidence to support the claim Thursday. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, called Trump's tweet "outrageous," adding on Twitter that "federal employees don't go to work wearing red or blue jerseys."

Goodman said Schumer had rejected an offer conveyed earlier by Vice President Mike Pence of $2.1 billion for new border barriers, along with $400 million for other Trump immigration priorities. Schumer told Pence that Democrats won't consider any offer without a public endorsement by Trump because the president has changed his position so often, Goodman said.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have been negotiating with the Trump administration. Once they reach agreement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he'll seek a vote on the deal.

If the shutdown lasts past Jan. 3, when Democrats assume control of the House, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is in line to become speaker, said the chamber will pass a spending bill to reopen the government -- without money for a wall.





Federal employees working without pay and those now furloughed are getting their Dec. 28 pay checks under a decision by the White House budget office since pay reflects work before Dec. 21.

The remaining parts of the government, including the Defense Department, Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, were already funded and won't be affected by the shutdown, nor will mandatory entitlement programs like Medicare payments.

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