WASHINGTON – Federal employees who have been furloughed as a result of the government shutdown are urging Democrats not to buckle in their standoff with Republicans over government funding — even if that means they’ll be going without paychecks in the coming weeks.
They described the shutdown fight as one worth waging, despite the likelihood of incurring credit card debt to pay for necessities, support their families and pay off a mortgage. Some said they’d be willing to go as far as finding another job if it comes down to it.
“If we don’t stand up now, we might not have jobs in a month, in two months, in three months, or four months,” James Kirwan, counsel to the chair of the National Labor Relations Board, told HuffPost, stressing the need to curb President Donald Trump’s ability to shutter federal agencies and slash the federal workforce unilaterally.
“There’s nothing to stop them from doing that unless the budget comes with assurances. So we are willing to take some temporary pain in order to have strength for our programs,” he added.
Monica Gorman, a research analyst at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said this shutdown is different from prior ones because the Trump administration is seeking to permanently close critical programs, including those that deorbit satellites providing data Americans rely on for weather forecasting, climate research, agriculture, safety and natural disaster alerts.
