“They understand what’s happening. They want border security,” Trump told reporters Tuesday morning. “Many of those workers have said to me and communicated, ‘Stay out until you get the funding for the wall.’ These federal workers want the wall.”
While it is true that this latest shutdown does not affect the 75 percent of government funding that was already approved for the budget year that started in October – it is the 25 percent of the funding that is not covered for agencies like the departments of homeland security, justice, and transportation among others.
Actually, hundreds of thousands of federal employees have stopped working since nine federal departments and dozens of agencies shut down Saturday.
Trump also said he could not say when the government might reopen. Congress will next meet in regular session Thursday. However, Trump added, according to Washington Examiner. “I can’t tell you when the government’s going to be open. I can tell you it’s not going to be open until we have a wall or fence, whatever they’d like to call it.”
Federal employees affected by shutdown
There are over 400,000 federal employees that are deemed essential and are expected to continue to work through the shutdown, to ensure that critical operations in government proceed. As to when they will get paid? They will not get any compensation until the shutdown is over, then it will take Congressional legislation for them to be paid retroactively.
According to data from Senator Patrick Leahy’s office 41,000 federal law enforcement and corrections staffers, 88 percent of Department of Homeland Security employees and 5,000 US Forest Service firefighters, and 3,600 National Weather Service forecasters have been furloughed.
Additionally, according to one Coast Guard member’s wife, The military branch is facing no pay on the 1st due to being an agency in the Department of Homeland Security and not the Department of Defense.
The National Treasury’s union released a survey on Christmas Eve that showed nearly 80 percent of federal employees responding said there were very concerned about the furlough, reports The Guardian.
“Just in case anyone still thinks a partial shutdown over a holiday weekend is harmless, think again,” the NTEU national president, Tony Reardon, said in a statement accompanying the release of the survey results.
What federal employees are saying
From the responses on Twitter, and yes, there are a lot of them – Most families affected by the government shutdown would put Trump’s Great Wall at the bottom of their list of preferences. We are talking about families that have rent due, medical bills to pay and groceries to buy.
Take Maria Ortega, for example – She Tweeted: “My husband is federal law enforcement. He had the weekend off but now has to head back to work on Christmas morning with no indication of when/if he will be paid for providing crucial border security. We blame you @realDonaldTrump #ShutdownStories #TrumpShutDown.”
#ShutdownStories must all be fake news because doesn't everybody have so much extra money from their great big tax cut windfall and super new job and burgeoning stock accounts. Living the vote. So much winning.
— Miss Kimmie (@smith_kimlynn) December 24, 2018
Then there are people who work as “contractors” for the federal government:
I'm a contracted employee for the federal government and the difference is that there is no chance of compensation for the shutdown days for me and others in my position. #ShutdownStories
— NPSF (@Newstent1) December 25, 2018
@Sifill_LDF
It's the low wage contractors-office cleaners, cafeteria workers, maintenance, etc.-who are most affected. They won't get back pay, in some cases are already working 2 jobs & aren't on twitter to tell you.#ShutdownStories@EleanorNorton— Alan Eisen (@AlanEisen) December 25, 2018
And one final Tweet that bsays it all:
We had a baby two months ago (10/24/18); I have been on unpaid leave since then. Husband works with USFS, is our primary earner. Without his income, I don’t know what we will do. We have enough in savings to cover the mortgage in January, but beyond that… ♀️#ShutdownStories pic.twitter.com/2EV4qAXC0C
— Little Sarah (@theSarawithanH) December 24, 2018
