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Jaci Criss and Jack Criss

DALLAS – Friday is the first day that thousands of federal workers are missing their first full paycheck.

After the government shutdown began Oct. 1, many government workers are looking for ways to keep their families afloat.

Air traffic controller works for DoorDash

Jack Criss Jr. is a single father with sixteen years’ experience as an air traffic controller. He didn’t think twice about taking another job to help bring money into the house, and to keep his daughter in her private Catholic high school.

Jack was born in Dallas, but lives in the D.C. area raising his daughter, 14-year-old Jaci, as a single dad.

To keep paying her tuition without a paycheck, Criss has been working as a DoorDash delivery driver around his air traffic controller shift.

When DoorDash learned the Criss’s story, they helped out with $10,000 for Jaci’s tuition.

‘It’s been incredibly difficult’

What they’re saying:

“It’s been incredibly difficult. It’s been very disheartening, and it’s not easy whatsoever to not know when the next time you’ll get paid,” Jack said.

“I’m very proud of him. He’s done a lot for me, and he keeps doing a lot for me. As for what I’m doing right now, it’s a first,” Jaci said.

Jack is proud of his daughter for excelling academically and athletically as a freshman.

“She won’t brag about this, so I’ll do it: She’s a freshman on varsity at Bishop O’Connel, which serves as one of the most compettive basketball conferences for girls in the United States,” Jack said.

Jaci is learning life lessons from her dad during the shutdown.

“Taking a stand for what he believes in, and he’s showing me what it means to fight,” Jaci said.

Jack wants Congress to fight for a shutdown solution, instead of Democrats and Republicans fighting over who’s right.

“I hope and pray that they end the political posturing against one another and sit down and get a CR — that’s a continuing resolution — passed,” Jack said.

Jack is not a union rep, and does not speak for the Air Traffic Controllers Association. He’s just one father trying to fill the gaps for his family.

“It was sincere, but that’s just for her tuition. You also got the other financial obligations, and so I still need to manage that. So I still have to do what I have to do, irrespective of Secretary Sean Duffy saying he wouldn’t like us to do it. I have to,” Jack said. 

Sec. Duffy on moonlighting

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy doesn’t want air traffic controllers moonlighting, fearing the extra hours may eat into their mental sharpness during the hours they have hundreds of lives in their hands. 

But Thursday, Duffy said he understands.

“They have to make choices, and the choice they’re making is to take a second job,” Duffy said.

Duffy says the longer the shutdown drags on, the more likely air travel will be affected.

This week, airports in Houston, D.C., New York, and Newark had to issue ground stops due to staffing shortages.

The Source: Information in this article came from FOX 4 interviews with the Criss family. 

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