Federal workers miss first full paycheck since shutdown began : NPR

Wanda Bright, a federal employee impacted by the shutdown, picks up food at the Capital Region Food Bank in Hyattsville, Maryland, on Tuesday.

Tyrone Turner/UMOA

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Tyrone Turner/UMOA

The sight was stunning in Prince George’s County, Maryland, home to more than 60,000 federal workers: Middle-class professionals lined up for boxes of pasta, protein and produce to feed their families.

After two hours of waiting, Wanda Bright had finally reached the front of the queue, just as the first batch of supplies had run out.

The Capital Region Food Bank started the day with 300 boxes, enough for 150 government employees to each receive two boxes. It turned out the need was even greater.

Fortunately, reinforcements were called and cheers erupted as a second truck backed into the mall parking lot. Bright breathed a sigh of relief as volunteers handed him bread and other supplies to help his family get through the week.

“A lot of us are stressed, and that’s taking a toll on our mental health,” says Bright, one of an estimated 700,000 federal employees in the United States currently on furlough, meaning they’re not working at the moment. “Some people can handle this. A lot of people can’t.”

For many federal workers, Friday is supposed to be payday. Instead, they receive nothing. No partial salary. No sign of their salaries resuming.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has managed to move funds around to ensure that some people get paid, particularly those doing work deemed critical to President Trump’s priorities.

“We have the people we want paid, paid, okay?” Trump said at the White House last week.

1.4 million people without pay

In total, about 1.4 million civilian federal employees across the country are without pay, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C. think tank. About half of them are unemployed. The other half have been deemed essential and therefore continue to work.

For many people in both groups, the expiration of Congressional appropriations brought new financial hardship during an already difficult year.

“Throughout the fiscal year — 2025 — I was worried about my job, worried about getting a RIF,” says Jay, a furloughed worker from the National Institutes of Health, referring to the workforce reductions, or layoffs, that have already hit a number of agencies. “It was exhausting, emotionally draining. Now the reality is setting in: You’re not getting checks and you have to support your family.”

Jay, who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of losing his job, carried his two boxes out of the food distribution site in a stroller. He has a 1-year-old and a 5-year-old waiting for him at home.

Pastor Oliver Carter explains food distribution procedures to federal workers waiting in line in Hyattsville.

Tyrone Turner/UMOA

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Tyrone Turner/UMOA

In Tampa, Florida, Tierra Carter continues to work and answer calls to the Social Security Administration’s 1-800 number. Carter, who is a union representative with the American Federation of Government Employees, says the lack of pay forced her to take out loans and request a hardship withdrawal from her 401(k).

“I kind of feel like I’m in a swimming pool and I’m trying to swim to the top, but every time I get to the middle I get knocked down,” she says.

Offer help paying bills

Many federal workers earn less than $90,000 a year, or 43%, according to an analysis of March 2024 government data by the Pew Research Center. Even those who earn more could see their bills add up quickly.

Credit unions, where many federal workers do their banking, have begun offering some financial assistance. As of Wednesday, Iowa-based Veridian Credit Union had already approved more than $55,000 in “government advance loans” — short-term, interest-free loans — for 32 members affected by the shutdown. It also handled 80 “late payments” at no cost to members. Similarly, Denver-based Westerra Credit Union and Northern California-based Redwood Credit Union have each already provided nearly $100,000 in short-term, interest-free loans to their members, with new applications coming in every day.

In Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia, the Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO, has been providing emergency financial assistance through its federal Worker Solidarity Fund since February. But in recent days, requests for help with groceries, rent, mortgage payments and utility bills have skyrocketed, says Sig Meilus, the organization’s director.

On Thursday morning, Meilus received 20 new support requests that had arrived in its inbox overnight. As the end of the lockdown is not in sight, she expects the trend to continue.

“Which also means that, unfortunately, our funds are dwindling rapidly,” she says.

Shutdown begins to impact communities

Given that about two-thirds of the federal civilian workforce is still working despite the expiration of annual appropriations, the shutdown may not be so obvious to many Americans.

But the longer it goes on, the more the public will start to feel its economic effects, says Shai Akabas, vice president of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

According to Akabas, there may already be a grocery store next to a federal building that doesn’t get as much foot traffic, or a daycare that sees fewer children showing up because their parents are on leave. Over time, communities that have a higher density of federal workers could see their overall spending decrease.

“Not everyone is feeling it yet, but it’s actually affecting the economy as a whole,” Akabas says.

While Congress passed a law in 2019 guaranteeing back pay to federal employees after a shutdown ends, Trump recently suggested that furloughed workers should not rely on that law.

“We’ll see,” Trump said a week after the shutdown began. “Most of them are going to get their pay back, and we’re going to try to make sure that. But some of them are being hit very hard by the Democrats and so they won’t be eligible.”

The Trump administration is finding ways to pay some federal employees

Across government, many federal employees are still being paid as usual during the shutdown. The salaries of some federal employees, including the vast majority of those at the Department of Veterans Affairs, do not come from appropriations that Congress must approve each year.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has also engaged in what White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought called a “fiscal twister” in an interview on The Charlie Kirk Show.

Customs and Border Protection officers stand outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon, on October 4.

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Jenny Kane/AP

Active-duty military personnel received their salaries on time last week, after the Defense Department dipped into its unused research and development funds to find the money.

Some 70,000 Department of Homeland Security law enforcement officers are also now being paid with funds allocated to the department in Trump’s tax and spending bill last summer. Yet many of their own colleagues are not being paid — and likely won’t be until the shutdown ends — creating an uneven playing field among federal employees, which becomes increasingly skewed as the shutdown continues.