See the PDF here. Over 500 people crowded in the Blair SAC on Jan. 11 for the “Shutdown Social” for furloughed government employees. The free potluck dinner was organized by Montgomery County Councilman Tom Hucker (D-District 5) for government employees who are not receiving salary during the government shutdown. Approximately 800,000 government employees missed their first paychecks on Jan. 11 because of the impasse between the House of Representatives and the president in appropriating funds for the 2019 fiscal year. “[The employees are] the collateral damage in this whole standoff between the House and the White House,” Hucker said. In a speech during the event, Senator Chris Van-Hollen (D-Md.) said that the dinner event was organized to “show solidarity and support for all the federal workers… not being paid.”
After over two weeks without salary, many government employees, such as Food and Drug Administration employee David McGivern, faced mounting difficulty paying their bills. “It makes you a bit panicky; you don’t know whether you can pay your bills on time,” he said. “I don’t know how long this is going to go on so we have to make some contingency plans to cover all the bills.” McGivern and his family recently moved to the area from North Carolina and still need to sell their old house. Lower-paid government contractors like custodians are especially hurt from their loss of two-weeks’ worth of salary, as they will not receive back pay, or compensation, for their furloughed days, whereas other employees will as guaranteed by the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (S. 24). “It’s not easy to not have a paycheck, but [my wife and I] have a cushion,” Eric Madsen, a longtime National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employee who will receive back pay, said. “There’s an awful lot of other folks here that do not. The janitors in our building… have at least one other job, and for them a week or two weeks' pay is a really big deal.” Hucker hoped the dinner would provide relief to families affected by the shutdown. “They’re scrimping and saving and haven't taken their families out to dinner at all, even on the weekends… this is a chance for them to come out and get out of the house, have a nice meal,” he said. Local restaurants that lost business as a result of the shutdown still stepped up to help out the community. Seventeen local restaurants, including El Golfo, McGinty’s, and Gari Kabab, donated food to the potluck event. Many Silver Spring residents also donated food. “A lot of our neighbors are government workers and so we wanted to show our support by coming and hearing what people are going through and being part of a community,” said former government contractor Annie Tulkin, who is not furloughed but decided to donate food. “It’s just nice to… know that you’ll be welcomed as you are, regardless of what your position is or what your station is in life.” Entertainment was provided by musicians including the Northwest drumline. Middle school soccer players from the Elite Soccer Youth Development Academy soccer club volunteered in the kitchen, helping to prepare the food that was served. The Montgomery County Office of Eligibility and Community Services were present to provide information about county services to those who need assistance. “Our community always does an excellent job of taking care of each other, and this is the kind of thing that makes you really glad to live here,” Alison Gillespie, science writer for National Institute of Standards and Technology, said. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said that Blair was a prime venue for the event due to its large size and location. “You got a great cafeteria, you’ve got room to serve a lot of people, you’re central to the community, easy to get to, and you’ve got acres and acres of parking,” he said. Ultimately, many government employees hoped to return to work as quickly as possible. Madsen, for instance, who already took a week off for winter break, missed several important meetings and presentations over the past couple weeks due to the shutdown. “It's all this lost opportunity that we aren't going to be able to do,” he said. “When you get back… you don’t just have a week, you have three weeks that you’ve got to catch up for.” Van-Hollen said that moving forward, the Senate needs to do whatever possible to end the shutdown. “What’s in our power is to immediately vote on two bills that had already been passed in the House of Representatives that would immediately reopen the government,” he said. “They’re both bills that had bipartisan support in the Senate within the last couple weeks or months, so there’s no justification to not vote for them… we shouldn’t be giving away our votes and responsibility to the president.”
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