Many federal employees are feeling a financial hit, as the second-longest government shutdown drags on with no end in sight.
About 1.4 million federal employees missed a full paycheck this week, according to data analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Center. About half of those employees are furloughed, and the rest are working without pay.
Both groups have received back pay at the end of every shutdown, but the Office of Management and Budget circulated a memo earlier this month stating that back pay is not guaranteed for furloughed employees, and that Congress would have to pass legislation to enact it.
More than 13,000 air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration are among those who are about to miss their next paycheck.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters on Friday that air traffic controllers will see a “big, fat zero” on their next paycheck next Tuesday. He previously said there’s been a slight uptick in air traffic controllers calling out sick amid the shutdown.
Duffy said that, before the shutdown, short-staffing accounted for about 5% of flight delays on any given day. He said that during the shutdown, short-staffing accounts for 53% of delays.
“You can, and very well may see delays in the system. That’s because our priority is you getting from Point A to Point B and getting there safely. I’m less concerned about you getting there on time.”
Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said air traffic controllers are “showing up every single day under immense stress,” which can impact their focus on the job. He said some controllers are taking on second jobs to cover their bills during the shutdown.
“Air traffic controllers have called and said, ‘I’ve picked up a side job. I go to my primary job on a day, an evening or a midnight shift. And when I complete that shift, I now go to a secondary job. I’m driving for Uber. I’m doing DoorDash. I’m doing Instacart.’ This job is hard enough,” Daniels said.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) said the missed paycheck “needlessly adds more stress to an already difficult job” for air traffic controllers.
“Controllers should never have to wonder where they will find money to pay their mortgage or put food on the table,” Larsen said.
Furloughed federal employees, speaking in their personal capacity, detailed the hardships of missing a paycheck to members of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee in a hearing on Wednesday.
James Jones, a furloughed National Park Service maintenance mechanic at the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, told lawmakers that he and his wife are tapping into their savings to “weather the storm for a while.”
“We have to tighten the belt. We’ve been very frugal on what we spend. But I have friends in the Park Service and other federal agencies that aren’t as fortunate as me, and so they’re very concerned,” James told lawmakers. “If they miss a mortgage payment or the rent payment, are they going to be kicked out? Are they going to have their home foreclosed on, or is the landlord going to kick them out if they can’t pay their utility bills?
“These are real-world problems that a lot of people are facing as federal employees. And the longer this goes on, obviously, it’s going to get worse,” he added.
Danny Tsoi, an analyst and regulatory writer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told lawmakers that his last paycheck was only 80% of the usual amount, because the pay period included the first few days of the shutdown. But this week is the first week he’s going to miss his first full paycheck while on furlough.
Tsoi, a Marine veteran, said he’s expecting a loan from Navy Federal Credit Union to cover his bills in the meantime.
Some furloughed federal employees seek side jobs to cover their expenses during a protracted government shutdown. But Tsoi said federal employees with disabilities may have a harder time picking up another job during the shutdown.
Federal agencies, he added, have typically granted reasonable accommodations for a broad range of conditions, and have been an employer of choice for veterans with disabilities.
“Folks that have these types of conditions may have a harder time looking for these additional income sources during the shutdown,” he said.
CMS is temporarily bringing furloughed employees back to work to help individuals sign up for health insurance plans during the open enrollment period, starting Monday, Oct. 27.
The agency said it will repurpose some of its funding to ensure furloughed and excepted employees are paid on time for days worked during the open enrollment period.
Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.) said federal employees in her district are struggling to cover the expense of commuting to work without being paid on time.
“I met with many of the federal employees back in our district who don’t even know how they can afford to get gas, so they can even turn up for work that they’re not getting paid for,” Lee said.
The Trump administration has moved around funds to keep active-duty service members and 70,000 law enforcement personnel at the Department of Homeland Security from missing paychecks.
But congressional Democrats said the Trump administration is “inflicting maximum pain” on the federal workforce by furloughing employees at agencies that are largely fee-funded and typically stay open during a shutdown.
Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), along with Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), joined more than 60 of their colleagues in calling on OMB to immediately reinstate any furloughed employees at agencies fully funded through user fees, and to resume their paychecks.
The lawmakers said the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs has furloughed some passport services employees and had others work without pay during the shutdown, even though its operations are funded by visa and passport processing fees.
“There is no legal or financial reason to deny compensation to these employees as the money necessary to pay them is still being collected for services that are still being rendered,” the lawmakers wrote.
Federal News Network has reached out to OMB and the State Department for comment.
The State Department’s updated contingency plans state that the Bureau of Consular Affairs is “generally expected to operate normally” during a shutdown, and that its operations “domestically and abroad will remain operational as long as there are sufficient fees to support operations.”
The largely fee-funded General Services Administration has also furloughed staff who are normally exempt from the shutdown.
GSA employees previously told Federal News Network that they recently received furlough notices, even though their jobs are funded through the agency’s Federal Acquisition Service and Working Capital Fund, which don’t include congressional appropriations.
One GSA employee said that the agency’s Federal Acquisition Service and Public Buildings Service, which oversees the government real estate portfolio, were “given a number to hit” in terms of furloughs.
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