A security checkpoint at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Some federal employees, including Transportation Security Administration agents, continue to work despite the government shutdown. Al Drago for The New York Times
When the government shutdown began a week ago, many federal workers were more irked than anxious.
They’re really anxious now. What at first seemed like ho-hum political brinkmanship is looking more like a prolonged, punishing shutdown, more akin to the 27-day funding lapse in 1995 and 1996 than the blink-and-miss-it shutdowns earlier this year.
“This one feels different,” said Celia Hahn, a Transportation Security Administration officer at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, who is working without pay and worried about her mortgage and her son’s orthodontic expenses. “If it were to go about two weeks, that’s when people would start panicking.”
Dena Ivey, a furloughed probate specialist in the Anchorage office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, lost many of her possessions during the recent Alaska earthquake, and feels overwhelmed by the man-made disaster now afflicting her family.
“We’re sort of being held hostage in the middle, and we have families and obligations,” said Ms. Ivey, a single mother. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make rent.” She added: “I’m basically living on credit now.”
Charles Aitken, who works in inventory management for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is continuing to report to work in Virginia. But he is not being paid and just informed his ex-wife that he may be late with child support payments.
“We have to grin and bear it,” Mr. Aitken said.
On Thursday, the federal Office of Personnel Management took the extraordinary, odd and ominous step of posting a link to a document that offered tips to federal workers on weathering a lengthy interruption, including suggestions on how to defer rent payments, or even barter with landlords by offering to perform minor repair work like painting or cleaning up.
Steve Reaves, the president of the union that represents FEMA workers, said Friday that he was getting four or five times the number of calls he ordinarily received from his membership.
“The worry’s mounting, the stress is mounting,” Mr. Reaves said. “Their concern is, what do we next? Where do we go from here? How are we going to make ends meet and pay our bills?”
Mr. Reaves said he expected federal workers to begin making more drastic decisions about their financial well-being within a week or so. He would decide within two weeks whether to use some of his retirement savings.
Some charitable groups are attempting to fill the breach.
The nonprofit Coast Guard Mutual Assistance is helping out lower-ranking members, offering $550 to married members and $350 to single Coast Guard members who need help paying for food or overdue bills. If all 21,000 members who are eligible for the aid request it, that would cost some $12 million.
Trash at the Ellipse, near the White House, piled up during the shutdown.
“It’s a real challenge for us,” said Cari Thomas, a retired rear admiral and the chief executive officer of a nonprofit that is the official relief society of the Coast Guard. “It’s about $150 million each pay period to pay the active duty and civilian employees of the Coast Guard, and our nonprofit does not have $150 million, as you can imagine.”
She said she had been on the phone…
