Tag: Charles Aitken

Some federal employees, including Transportation Security Administration agents, continue to work despite the government shutdown. “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. 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 on Friday morning with a senior member of the Coast Guard, who is not eligible for the aid and was in tears, worrying about whether he would be able to pay his rent on Jan. 5. Anxieties are highest for the 800,000 federal workers furloughed or forced to work without pay. But the fear is spreading far beyond the federal work force, hitting government contractors, local governments forced to cover for furloughed sanitation and maintenance workers and organizations that feed the poor, who are dealing with a possible interruption to sources of funding and provisions. The Department of Agriculture’s emergency food assistance program, which sends surplus agricultural products to food banks, and the commodity supplemental food program, which provides food to low-income seniors, are both at risk, according to Catherine Drennan, the director of communications and public affairs at the Greater Boston Food Bank. The shutdown is already causing major problems at national parks despite efforts by states and private groups to offset the loss of federal funding. A pileup of trash and dirty toilets during the shutdown has drawn intense concern at Joshua Tree National Park in California.