Groceries Or Day Care? Return The Christmas Gifts? Federal Workers Are Making Tough Decisions After Missing Their First Paycheck In The Government Shutdown
President Donald Trump claimed federal workers are happy to not be paid while he argues for a border wall. In reality, furloughed workers are making tough decisions and stocking the freezer as much as possible. Union members and federal employees rally in Washington, DC. Day care expenses or mortgage payments? Bills or birthday celebrations? Breakfast with or without bacon? These are the strategic financial decisions agonizing roughly 800,000 federal workers as they miss their first full paycheck on Friday — the 21st day of the partial government shutdown . Many of the federal employees who have been furloughed or are working without pay have said that they live paycheck to paycheck, and are using quick math and gut instinct to determine whether they skip a mortgage payment, let a credit card bill go unpaid, or short their student loans, car loans, utilities, phone, internet, and day care expenses. Several federal workers who spoke to BuzzFeed News on...