800,000 furloughed federal workers are set to miss their second paycheck if the partial shutdown continues. They are slated to receive their pay on Friday, January 25, 2019. Of this number, 380,0000 people are currently furloughed while 420,000 are coming to work without pay, leaving household budgets to be in complete disarray.
According to John W. Schoen of CNBC, die-hard immigration supporters curtailed President Trump’s proposal to reopen the government. While the proposal will still be under review and voted for in the Senate, Schoen states that this will likely fail.
As a result of the ongoing federal government shutdown, furloughed workers have taken extreme lengths to secure their family’s welfare. This includes racking up debt on their government-issued credit cards. Work-related expenses that charged on these cards cannot get reimbursed because the funds remain frozen under the shutdown.
To answer this growing pressure, Alan Levin of Bloomberg reports that JPMorgan Chase, one of the main companies working with the United States government in issuing federal credit cards, will prevent affected employees from having their credit scored downgraded. Likewise, Levin also reports that banks working with the government have also taken initiative not to assess finance charges, particularly while the shutdown is in effect.
However, despite these efforts, government employees are still under the belief that they are the ones responsible for paying their credit card bills. Regardless of the assurances of these institutions, employee concerns remain in place.
Having interviewed Michael Gonzales, regional vice president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, Levin notes that his members, often required to travel for work, do not have enough money saved up to pay for these work-related expenses. Meanwhile, other people result to taking cash out of their own pockets without the assurance of reimbursement by their agency.
Other departments affected by the government shutdown have sent most of their employees home, starting from December 22, 2018. Other agencies including the Transportation Security Administration have allowed essential employees to go to work without pay.
The United States federal government shutdown resulted over disputes about funding a border with Mexico.
