5 yıl önce

As US shutdown continues, government workers feel the pain

Federal employees are struggling to pay bills and are worried about basic necessities as Trump's shutdown of the US government continues into a third week.

Reuters

US President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he returns from Camp David to the White House in Washington, US, January 6, 2019

Government workers expressed dismay and spoke of hardships at a roundtable hosted by Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, as they faced problems paying basic bills and worried about necessities on the 17th day of a government shutdown.

President Donald Trump announced on Monday he would make a prime-time address and visit the US-Mexico border this week amid the partial federal government shutdown after a funding impasse over his demand for money to build a border wall.

The shutdown has furloughed 380,000 federal workers and forced another 420,000 to work without pay.

The National Park Service said it was dipping into entrance fees to pay for staffing at some highly visited parks to maintain restrooms, clean up trash and patrol the grounds, after reports of human waste and garbage overflowing in some spots.

Over the weekend, the federal agency tasked with guaranteeing US airport security acknowledged an increase in the number of its employees missing work or calling in sick.

TRT World's Lionel Donovan reports from Washington.