Payday without pay hits federal workers as shutdown drags on

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — Payday will come Friday without any checks for about 800,000 federal employees affected by the government shutdown, forcing workers to scale back spending, cancel trips, apply for unemployment benefits and take out loans to stay afloat.

IRS employee Krystle Kirkpatrick and her family, including her two children, ages 6 and 12, aren’t eating out, buying brand-name foods or getting drinks at the gas station. Her husband is working overtime in his job as a machinist to try to make up for her lost paycheck.

Her mortgage company informed her it won’t let her skip a payment, and she still has to pay daycare even though her children aren’t going or she will lose their spot to another family on the waiting list. She has applied for unemployment but doesn’t know when the benefits will begin arriving.

“It’s a very scary feeling to know that your payday is coming and nothing is coming,” the Ogden woman said. “I don’t think the administration and the houses of Congress understand the repercussions of not having a paycheck.”

https://apnews.com/b81e4aca509b47998d7b3c3b365b477d