An African-American woman, mid-40s, sat at a long table Thursday, cutting into a fresh garden salad.
“I’d rather talk about the weather or something,” she said, taking a bite of greens and dressing. “I did enough worrying about the government when we weren’t getting paid.”
Across the table, her coworker, a man in his late 50s, nodded.
“Those guys in government, they need to quit acting like kids and agree on something,” he said, taking a sip of soup. “I am not going through this again.”
The Transportation Security Administration employees were two of more than 35 at a benefit meal held at J. Broussard’s for federal employees either furloughed or working without pay during the 35-day partial government shutdown.
They spoke to The Dispatch on the condition of anonymity, as did all the beneficiaries of Thursday’s meal. In some cases, they said they were embarrassed. For others, they didn’t want to get in trouble with their employer for speaking to the media.
Between courses, families whose spouses and siblings work at the federal prison at Aliceville, Alabama, talked about how the government shutdown affected them then and now. One mother of two, a Lowndes County resident, said it was hard to “motivate” herself to go to work an hour away in Aliceville since she knew she wasn’t going to be paid.
“I know we were going to get paid eventually,” she said. “Like, I knew that. But it was discouraging, you know? To drive all that way, still spending money, and go those two Fridays without any paychecks. But crime doesn’t stop, so I went to work.”
Another Aliceville prison employee, a mother of three, said she didn’t get to celebrate Christmas and a family member’s birthday the way she and her family wanted to.
“I had to take some presents back for family members that hadn’t come down for the holidays yet,” she said. “I mean, everyone understood. It happens. But it was sad. And I had to explain it to my kids in a way that wouldn’t scare them. That was rough.”
The partial government shutdown began Dec. 22, as Congress and President Donald Trump met an impasse on security measures on the country’s southern border.
During the record-long shutdown that Trump and Congress agreed to lift last week, workers with such entities as the national parks and Department of Agriculture (USDA) were furloughed. Others, such as TSA and federal prison employees, continued work without pay.
All federal workers affected by the shutdown should receive back pay soon, but the possibility looms of them having to endure more uncertainty in the coming weeks.
The shutdown was only lifted for three weeks and Trump has indicated he might allow another shutdown if Congress doesn’t agree to fund a $5.7 billion border wall by Feb. 15. No such agreement seems forthcoming.
Everyone in the dining room Thursday agreed they didn’t want another shutdown, especially so soon. A man in his late 60s who has worked for the TSA for more than 30 years, worried he won’t be able to retire on time, especially since he and his wife had to dip into their retirement savings in January to help make ends meet.
“Thankfully, she’s in the private sector,” he said. “I know some folks who had it worse. But if (President Trump) does this again, we’re not going to have as easy of a time, financially.”
The wife of an employee at the federal prison in Aliceville agreed, leaning forward and gesturing with her fork for emphasis.
“He’s not the one giving things up, but he’s the one saying he’ll shut down the government over a border wall,” she said. “It’s ridiculous. He’s the one doing this, but we’re the one defaulting on loans and draining our bank accounts to pay for gas. And that’s to get to a job people didn’t get paid to do.”
Volunteers and restaurant staff served the federal workers the Thursday meal. Area wholesalers donated the food.
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