As the longest government shutdown in US history enters a fourth week with no resolution in sight, Jared Hautamaki considers himself relatively fortunate. The Home Depot where he already worked several shifts a week agreed to employ him full-time while he and hundreds of thousands of federal employees are locked out of their day-jobs.
At US$14 an hour, his retail paycheck hardly matches what he earns as an attorney adviser with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but with four children under eight years old, Hautamaki said it is a necessary accommodation.
Yet he still worries the temporary income will not be enough to cover the costs of daycare, a mortgage and the rest of his family’s monthly expenses, if the shutdown lasts several more weeks as US President Donald Trump has threatened.
“Imagine. I’m 42 years old and my retired mother is calling to ask if I need a loan,” Hautamaki said, speaking from his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, after finishing a shift that started at 4am. “I told her: Not yet.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said, letting out a sigh.
The Washington metropolitan area is home to the largest share of federal workers in the country, and on Friday many of them missed a paycheck for the first time since parts of the federal government ceased functioning on Dec. 22.
Frustrated employees posted photographs on Twitter of their pay stub showing a net pay of $0.
Members of the US Congress left town on Friday and no negotiations are scheduled.
“This shutdown isn’t funny anymore,” Randy Erwin, the president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, said at a rally in downtown Washington on Thursday. “Right now, it’s ruining people’s lives.”
“For me, it’s the uncertainty — is it going to end today or is it not going to end?” said one 54-year-old employee of the US National Science Foundation, who asked not to be named. “You want to plan your life, but without knowing day-to-day what’s going to happen.”
Before the shutdown, he was charged with helping to prepare for it.
“I don’t think the public at large appreciates how much goes into preparing for a shutdown,” he said. “We’re costing everyone money — not saving money.”
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