US shutdown bites as federal workers miss payday

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Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers have missed their first payday of the year as the partial shutdown of the US government bites deeper.

Many workers, such as prison guards and airport staff, have been working without any guarantee of pay since the shutdown began on 22 December.

President Donald Trump is refusing to approve a federal budget unless it includes funding for a border wall.

But Democrats say the $5.7bn (£4.5bn) he wants would be a waste of money.

About a quarter of the federal government will go without funding until a budget is agreed, leaving 800,000 employees without pay.

What’s the latest?

On Friday, government workers missed their first payday of this shutdown. Some shared their blank payslips on social media.

Oscar Murillo, an aerospace engineer at Nasa, posted his $0 cheque on Twitter and said he had actually lost money because of mandatory deductions.

Another Twitter user, Cat Heifner, shared what she said was her brother’s payslip which showed that he had been paid one cent for his work as an air traffic controller.

Meanwhile, the classified advertising website Craigslist has been flooded with listings from federal workers trying to sell their possessions.

Items ranging from beds to old toys have been listed as “government shutdown specials”.

“Sells for $93.88 at Walmart. Asking $10,” one advert for a child’s rocking chair reads. “We need money to pay bills.”

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AFP

A food bank in Washington, DC reported an influx of federal workers.

Radha Muthiah, the head of Capital Area Food Bank, said that dozens of volunteers are working to pack bags of food for affected workers.

Of the 800,000 federal employees affected, about 350,000 are furloughed – a kind of temporary lay-off – while the rest are continuing to work.

There are reports that thousands of workers have filed for unemployment amid the financial uncertainty, while others are calling in sick.

One major airport, Miami International, has said it will close an entire terminal this weekend because so many security staff are off sick.

What will happen next?

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Reuters

President Trump has been threatening to declare a national emergency, which would allow him to bypass Congress and build the wall by raiding military budgets.

But on Friday he stepped back from such a hugely controversial move, saying at the White House that he would not declare an emergency for now, preferring Capitol Hill to act.

• How much of Trump’s wall has been built?
• What border politicians think of Trump’s wall

Some US media reports suggest the White House is considering diverting some of the $13.9bn allocated last year by Congress for disaster relief in such areas as Puerto Rico, Texas and California to pay for the wall.

Analysts say declaring a national emergency would provide political cover to reopen government while allowing Mr Trump to argue he has done all he can to fulfil his campaign promise.

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