The despair of US officials during the government shutdown

An armed US Secret Service agent stands guard outside the White House. Photo:Reuters

Tanisha Keller, a single mother who works for the U.S. Census Bureau, usually relies on her monthly paycheck to cover her expenses. But now, with the U.S. government still shut down on December 22, her life is in limbo as she faces the risk of not receiving her next paycheck, according toNYTimes.

Keller, 42, and about 800,000 other federal workers across the country were supposed to get paid this week. But as President Donald Trump and Congress battle over $5 billion to build a wall along the border with Mexico, they won’t get any money to pay their bills or max out their credit cards.

Keller’s bank account is negative $169. She can no longer send her son Daniel a $100 check for books and supplies. She doesn’t know where she’ll find the $1,768 to pay next month’s rent on her Waldorf apartment in southern Maryland or cover the bills that are automatically deducted from her paycheck. She also recently gave up driving to save money on gas.

“There’s no mercy,” she said. “By February, my rent will be overdue and I’m going to need help.” As the government shut down, federal employees like Keller have had to dip into savings or max out their credit cards to cover their basic needs.

But those savings and credit lines are running out, and President Trump has warned that the government could remain shut down for months or even years if Democrats don’t agree to his $5 billion border wall. The situation has left hundreds of thousands of government workers from Washington, D.C., to town halls and remote prisons desperate and angry. They are living in “shutdown survival mode,” opening new credit cards to pay bills, borrowing from friends and scraping what’s left in their pantries.

"I have a child to support and rent to pay, so I told my landlord that if there was any rent increase, I would have to move," said Joseph Gudge, a 41-year-old electrical engineer with the Civil Aeronautics Administration who works at Seattle-Tacoma Airport in Washington state.

If the shutdown continues for an extended period of time and the lack of pay becomes unbearable, Gudge said he will have to quit. "Two months is the limit of my tolerance," he said. "Some of my colleagues are already considering looking for other jobs."

Joseph Gudge (left) stands with his wife and children outside their rented home in Washington state. Photo:NYTimes.

In Orlando, Florida, correctional officer Joe Rojas has started working part-time for Uber to help pay off his $2,000 mortgage payment due next month. “This weekend, I’m going to spend time with my family driving for Uber,” Rojas said. “We take the risks of being a correctional officer to bring peace to society in exchange for a decent income. But no one goes to work for free.”

The average weekly paycheck for a federal employee is just $500, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 700,000 federal employees, even though some earn six figures a year. Financial nightmares that once seemed impossible, such as overdraft fees, late payments, and credit score drops, are now a reality for many. Many have filed for unemployment benefits.

Shelly Carver, 57, an Internal Revenue Service employee in Ogden, Utah, said she was increasingly concerned because she and her three children, who work for the agency, were also on unpaid leave. They were all due to receive paychecks on Jan. 14 or Jan. 17, and all four would be in serious financial trouble if they weren’t paid on time.

Carver is considering dipping into her $5,000 savings to help her children pay their bills. “They have no other resources,” she said. “If the shutdown continues, I’ll end up in the same situation as them.”

Belkys Colon, 51, a Department of Housing and Urban Development employee, fears she will be evicted if she doesn't get paid this weekend to pay her $1,400 rent. "I'm worried that this is going to go on for a long time," she said. "I'm all alone, what's going to happen to me? Who can help me?"

These days, Colon tries to be as frugal as possible. She buys no fresh food except milk and makes do with what she has left in the cupboard, from bread, cereal, crackers to packaged foods that “no one normally touches.” Still, she has to carefully calculate the amount of food she has left so as not to fall into despair.

For 44-year-old prison guard Angela Tucker, the choice is even more difficult. She is on medication following surgery to remove a breast cancer tumor and is now forced to decide whether to spend her money on medication or on food and child care.

"What little budget I have left has to be prioritized, what can be cut, what can be stretched, and what are the most essential needs," Tucker said. "I'm only going to fill up half a tank of gas right now. I'm just hoping and praying that this will get me through."

US President Donald Trump speaks outside the White House in December 2018. Photo:AFP.

If Matt Kampf, 49, a firefighter in Montrose, Colorado, gets paid this Saturday, he will pay for his mortgage, insurance, groceries, the normal expenses of "living the American dream."

Instead, the Kampfs are cutting back on expenses, canceling travel plans, canceling home entertainment services, limiting weekend trips, and even selling their $8,600 pickup truck to pay the bills.

Like hundreds of thousands of other civil servants, Kampf said he loves his job and serving society, but he is not sure how much longer his family can endure if the unpaid work situation continues.

“The bitterness is real,” Kampf said. “If it continues through January, I don’t know what we’re going to do.” Meanwhile, the prospect of reopening the US government remains dim, with Trump declaring a “national emergency” to build a border wall rather than seeking a compromise with Congress to keep hundreds of thousands of government workers on their payrolls.