WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 -- The end of the 35-day partial government shutdown certainly was a soothing message for the 800,000 federal employees, but anxiety and stress persist as they still struggle to make ends meet, fearing another shutdown might come soon.
The record-long shutdown temporarily ended on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill to fund the government until Feb. 15, leaving more time for debate on his long-demanded U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Trump promised he will make sure that all federal employees receive their back pay "very quickly, or as soon as possible," but it could take a couple of days before everything goes back to normal.
A federal employee from the Homeland Security Department, who declined to be named, told Xinhua that he expects to get his paycheck in the next two or three weeks. "Usually there's a lag between you work and you receive your payment," he said.
He was among the dozens of federal employees and contractors who showed up at a free grocery distribution at Alexandria, Virginia over the weekend. He and his wife were able to get fresh produce including grapes, carrots, apples and onions, canned goods and frozen meals from the Capital Area Food Bank, which has operated six such pop-up markets in response to the government shutdown.
The employee said he came to the market for help because he was running out of money. "Usually I try to save one or two months of salary for emergencies, but with high rent and other expenses in the capital area, I lose it very quickly."
He said he has experienced a roller coaster of emotions during the 35 days after the shutdown. "We were following the news every day, trying to figure out basically what is going to happen, when can we return to work, trying to get help so I can keep my family safe." He said the shutdown has been very "stressful."
Dan McCabe, senior director of institutional partnerships at the Capital Area Food Bank, told Xinhua his team was "relieved" that the turnout has been lower following the end of the shutdown, "but we will be out here until workers get their next paycheck and that hasn't happened yet."
As of Saturday, the six markets in the capital region had served over 4,500 federal employees and contractors over the past few weeks, McCabe said.
Another federal employee who also preferred to remain anonymous told Xinhua that she still needs free food because her family couldn't make their monthly payment. "We were putting everything on credit cards. We have no cash to pay for anything," she said.
She said she found it difficult to explain the situation to her 14-year-old son when he asked her "Are we poor now? Do we not have any money?" "And I just tell him we're temporarily poor."
She said it's hard to say who should be blamed for the impasse. "They're all crazy. They (politicians) all want their own agendas, and then we have to be at the expense of them."
Having been working for the federal government for 10 years, she said she has experienced a few government shutdowns before, but "they've been small." This time, she is not sure whether the government will stay open. "Anxiety, uncertainty. So we'll just have to wait and see," she said.
She said frequent shutdowns could also discourage people from working for the government, since many of her colleagues have chosen not to go into the private sector with the assumption that government is more stable.
"If it happens once every few years, it isn't going to change a person's mind. But if this happens every year, yeah, absolutely," she said.
The employee from the Homeland Security Department said he is also concerned that the shutdown will happen again. "If they (Congress) don't give President Trump the money he demanded to build a border wall in the three weeks period, we might be in the same position again," he said.
Besides fearing another shutdown, federal employees are worried that failing to pay bills in time could undermine their credit.
"Even when the pay checks start coming again, that doesn't change the fact that your mortgages are due, your car payments are due, your bills are due. So then you have late fees and it's impacting your credit," Elizabeth Gilkey, director of development at the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank, told Xinhua.
Gilkey said she would rather federal employees come to the food bank for help than use up their savings or run up their credit card. "We are just trying to do a little something to take away that stress, just helping to create more of a buffer," she said.
黄冈中学2006届高三英语第二轮专题训练(四)
牛津译林版英语高三Module 11《unit 1 careers and skills》word同步测试
黄冈中学2006届高三英语第二轮专题训练(五)
新人教版英语高三Module 9《Unit 3 Australia》word同步测试
高三英语同步测试(Units 17-20)
黄冈中学2006届高三英语第二轮专题训练(二)
高三英语同步测试(Units1-6)
高三英语同步测试(Units 13-24)
无锡市部分高级中学高三基础测试英语试卷
北师大版高中英语必修1 Unit 3《Celebration》(Period Two)同步测试1
高考英语书面表达临考预测13题
新人教版英语高三单元测试-月考
北京学海乐苑2006届高三(十一月)月考英语试题
2006届宁德市高级中学高三英语第三次月考试题
浙江省临安中学高三英语第三次月考卷(2005年12月)
Unit15 Healthy Eating 重点题型训练及详解
Unit 13 Albert Einstern 能力提升练习
高二Unit 17时态、语态精练精析
新人教版英语高三Module 9《Unit 4 Exploring planets》word同步测试
黄冈中学2006届高三英语第二轮专题训练(一)
Unit 13 Albert Einstein 单元同步测验
牛津译林版英语高三Module 9《Unit1 Other countries, other cultures》word全单元同步测试4套
牛津译林版英语高三Module 10《unit 1 building the future》word同步测试
常熟市中学高三年级第一次月考英语试卷
高二·Unit 12 45分钟课堂演练
高考英语短文改错试题训练
高二Unit 13单元知识点巩固
高三英语综合思维训练对比练习100题
高三英语同步测试(Units 9-12)
牛津译林版英语高三Module 9《Unit4 Behind beliefs》word全单元同步测试8套
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |