Day 28 of the Trump shutdown, and we're at the point where tired, overworked, unpaid, pissed off federal workers are choking back tears at lecterns in Congressional offices.
At a press conference in Rep. Pramila Jayapal's office on Friday morning, a group of federal employees who haven't received a paycheck since late December gathered to tell their stories and to demand that Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell end the shutdown immediately.
Diana DeForest, who has worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 14 years, said she was embarrassed to admit she had to accept a loan from her mom to help take care of her family. She's the sole wage earner in her household, which puts the strain on her and her two kids. She's been applying for work as a mystery shopper on Craigslist, but said "even those jobs are hard to get."
She's less concerned for herself than she is for the people she serves, though. "We serve the public, people who need housing assistance, people who need help with possible discrimination, people who don't know where to go. They call HUD, and we do our best to help them. And it absolutely breaks my heart to be barred from doing that work," DeForest said.
Angie Tucker, the legislative coordinator for AFGE Local 1102, which represents employees at the federal detention center, called on Republicans to act. "Where y'at, Mitch? We're getting angry," she said, referring to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. "We're here, we're working 16-hour shifts, we're tired, our morale is down. And we need something to happen...Mitch McConnell needs to call the vote. " Later on, Jayapal said "the inmates within the prison...love that these federal employees are getting dismissed by the government," and added that guards had to deal with harassment and ridicule on top of a furlough.
Tucker emphasized the need to spread the word about the million little ways the government shutdown impacts our daily lives, saying that friends of hers thought the shutdown only meant parks were closed. "It's not just parks," Tucker said.
She's right. According to the Washington Post, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has had to cut way back on staff even as they face a constant barrage of cyber attacks from hostile foreign governments, law enforcement officers aren't getting trained, university research is grinding to a halt, invasive species are destroying acres of trees unchecked, the entire economy is slowing down by .1 percent per week, food and houses and stadiums are going without inspections, and, of course, nearly a million people are being held hostage by their own President so that he can claim partial victory on an absurd campaign promise to build a wall.
Those workers include, of course, TSA agents. Cairo D'Almeida, president of AFGE Local 1121, which represents TSA agents, said he's spent his days calling food banks on behalf of his workers. After saying he's only been able to sleep a few hours each night, he teared up, looked into the cameras, and simply said, "Please end the shutdown."
Michael Peeler, a construction manager who's worked at HUD for 30 years, said this last week was the first week he hasn't been paid since he started working. He's had to dip into savings to pay bills, and he's worried about being unable to sell his house or retire soon. "It's senseless. It's really tough," he said.
Though the stories were hard to hear, Rep. Jayapal suggested that caving to the President's demands would set a dangerous precedent. "What happens the next time the President decides he wants to cut Social Security and shuts down the government? Or the next time he decides he wants to end legal migration and shuts down the government? Or the next time he wants to cut food stamps or SNAP—is this how we interact?" Jayapal said. "And whose responsibility is it at this point to end the shutdown? It has and always has been the President's and now Mitch McConnell's responsibility."
"And to continue to try to take the country hostage is absolutely outrageous, untenable, unpresidential—I'm trying to use words I can use on camera," Jayapal added.
None of the federal workers said they'd support a deal to reopen the government in exchange for border wall funding. DeForest said "I want to work. I don't want the wall." D'Almeida said, "the physical wall isn't going to stop anything...and we're not supporting it." Tucker said she wanted to "focus less on the wall" and more on letting Democracy work.
Jayapal indicated that Democrats are "less and less likely" to cave on this, citing polling that shows Trump losing support among Republicans and his own base. A new poll from PBS NewsHour, NPR, and Marist shows Trump down 18 points with suburban men, down 13 points with white evangelicals, down 10 points with Republicans, and down 7 points with white guys who don't have a college degree. Other polls show that a majority of Americans blame the President for the shutdown and have no desire to see a wall attached to a bill that would fund the government.
Trump so far appears unmoved by the suffering he and Republicans are causing, nor does he seem to be feeling the pressure, though now he's promising to make "a major announcement concerning...the shutdown" tomorrow afternoon.
Judging by the language in the Tweet, it looks like he'll declare a national emergency, which will set off several legal challenges. Some think Trump will then throw up his hands, call out "activist judges," and open up the government. Others think he'll keep the government closed while the legal fight drags on.
In the meantime, you can help federal workers by donating to local food banks. If you live in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, or North Carolina you can call your Republican Senators and ask them to grow a spine and vote on a clean bill to open the government. They're up for re-election in 2020, so they might be more receptive to pressure.
