Many federal employees are feeling a financial hit, as the second-longest government shutdown drags on with no end in sight.<\/p>\n
About 1.4 million federal employees missed a full paycheck<\/a> this week, according to data analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Center. About half of those employees are furloughed, and the rest are working without pay.<\/a><\/p>\n Both groups have received back pay at the end of every shutdown, but the Office of Management and Budget circulated a memo<\/a> earlier this month stating that back pay is not guaranteed for furloughed employees, and that Congress would have to pass legislation to enact it.<\/p>\n More than 13,000 air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration are among those who are about to miss their next paycheck.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters on Friday that air traffic controllers will see a \u201cbig, fat zero\u201d on their next paycheck next Tuesday. He previously said there\u2019s been a slight uptick<\/a> in air traffic controllers calling out sick amid the shutdown.<\/p>\n Duffy said that, before the shutdown, short-staffing accounted for about 5% of flight delays on any given day. He said that during the shutdown, short-staffing accounts for 53% of delays.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can, and very well may see delays in the system. That\u2019s because our priority is you getting from Point A to Point B and getting there safely. I\u2019m less concerned about you getting there on time.\u201d<\/p>\n Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said air traffic controllers are \u201cshowing up every single day under immense stress,\u201d which can impact their focus on the job. He said some controllers are taking on second jobs to cover their bills during the shutdown.<\/p>\n \u201cAir traffic controllers have called and said, \u2018I\u2019ve picked up a side job. I go to my primary job on a day, an evening or a midnight shift. And when I complete that shift, I now go to a secondary job. I\u2019m driving for Uber. I\u2019m doing DoorDash. I\u2019m doing Instacart.\u2019 This job is hard enough,\u201d Daniels said.<\/p>\n House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) said the missed paycheck \u201cneedlessly adds more stress to an already difficult job\u201d for air traffic controllers.<\/p>\n \u201cControllers should never have to wonder where they will find money to pay their mortgage or put food on the table,\u201d Larsen said.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n Furloughed federal employees, speaking in their personal capacity, detailed the hardships of missing a paycheck to members of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee in a hearing on Wednesday.<\/p>\n James Jones, a furloughed National Park Service maintenance mechanic at the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, told lawmakers that he and his wife are tapping into their savings to \u201cweather the storm for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to tighten the belt. We\u2019ve been very frugal on what we spend. But I have friends in the Park Service and other federal agencies that aren\u2019t as fortunate as me, and so they\u2019re very concerned,\u201d James told lawmakers. \u201cIf they miss a mortgage payment or the rent payment, are they going to be kicked out? Are they going to have their home foreclosed on, or is the landlord going to kick them out if they can\u2019t pay their utility bills?<\/p>\n \u201cThese are real-world problems that a lot of people are facing as federal employees. And the longer this goes on, obviously, it\u2019s going to get worse,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Danny Tsoi, an analyst and regulatory writer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told lawmakers that his last paycheck was only 80% of the usual amount, because the pay period included the first few days of the shutdown. But this week is the first week he\u2019s going to miss his first full paycheck while on furlough.<\/p>\n Tsoi, a Marine veteran, said he\u2019s expecting a loan from Navy Federal Credit Union to cover his bills in the meantime.<\/p>\n Some furloughed federal employees seek side jobs to cover their expenses during a protracted government shutdown. But Tsoi said federal employees with disabilities may have a harder time picking up another job during the shutdown.<\/p>\n Federal agencies, he added, have typically granted reasonable accommodations for a broad range of conditions, and have been an employer of choice for veterans with disabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cFolks that have these types of conditions may have a harder time looking for these additional income sources during the shutdown,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n CMS is temporarily bringing furloughed employees back<\/a> to work to help individuals sign up for health insurance plans during the open enrollment period, starting Monday, Oct. 27.<\/p>\n The agency said it will repurpose some of its funding to ensure furloughed and excepted employees are paid on time for days worked during the open enrollment period.<\/p>\n Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.) said federal employees in her district are struggling to cover the expense of commuting to work without being paid on time.<\/p>\n \u201cI met with many of the federal employees back in our district who don\u2019t even know how they can afford to get gas, so they can even turn up for work that they\u2019re not getting paid for,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has moved around funds to keep active-duty service members and 70,000 law enforcement personnel at the Department of Homeland Security from missing paychecks.<\/p>\n But congressional Democrats said the Trump administration is \u201cinflicting maximum pain\u201d on the federal workforce by furloughing employees at agencies that are largely fee-funded and typically stay open during a shutdown.<\/p>\n Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), along with Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), joined more than 60 of their colleagues in calling on OMB<\/a> to immediately reinstate any furloughed employees at agencies fully funded through user fees, and to resume their paychecks.<\/p>\n The lawmakers said the State Department\u2019s Bureau of Consular Affairs has furloughed some passport services employees and had others work without pay during the shutdown, even though its operations are funded by visa and passport processing fees.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no legal or financial reason to deny compensation to these employees as the money necessary to pay them is still being collected for services that are still being rendered,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.<\/p>\n Federal News Network has reached out to OMB and the State Department for comment.<\/p>\n The State Department\u2019s updated contingency plans state that the Bureau of Consular Affairs is \u201cgenerally expected to operate normally\u201d during a shutdown, and that its operations \u201cdomestically and abroad will remain operational as long as there are sufficient fees to support operations.\u201d<\/p>\n