Federal workers miss first full paycheck since shutdown began : NPR

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 waiting for two hours, Wanda Bright finally made it to the front of the line—just as the first batch of supplies ran out.

The Capital Area Food Bank started the day with 300 boxes, enough for 150 state employees to receive two boxes each. It turned out that the need is even greater.

Luckily, reinforcements were called and cheers rang out as the second truck pulled into the mall parking lot. Bright breathed a sigh of relief as volunteers donated bread and other supplies to help her family get through the week.

“Many of us are stressed, and it's taking a toll on our mental health,” says Bright, one of about 700,000 federal employees in the U.S. who are currently furloughed, meaning they are not currently working. “Some people can handle it. A lot of people can't.”

For many federal employees, Friday is considered payday. Instead, they get nothing. No partial payment. No sign when can their salaries resume?.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has managed to reallocate money to ensure some people are paid, especially those doing work considered critical to President Trump's priorities.

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

1.4 million will remain without wages

In total, about 1.4 million civilian federal employees across the country remain without pay. according to the Bipartisan Policy Centerthink tank in Washington, DC. About half of them have been sent on leave. The other half was deemed necessary and therefore continues to operate.

For many people in both groups, the loss of congressional appropriations has led to new financial stress in an already difficult year.

“This whole fiscal year of 2025, I was worried about my job, worried about getting a RIF,” says Jay, a laid-off National Institutes of Health worker, referring to staff reductions or layoffswhich have already hit a number of agencies. “It was draining, emotionally draining. Now reality sets in when you’re not getting checks and you have to provide for your family.”

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

In Tampa, Florida, Tierra Carter still going to workby answering calls to the Social Security Administration's 1-800 number. Carter, who is a union representative for the American Federation of Government Employees, said the lack of pay forced her to take out loans and seek withdrawals from her 401(k) plan.

“I feel like I'm in a pool and I'm trying to swim to the top, but every time I get to the middle I get knocked off my feet,” she says.

I offer help paying bills

Many federal workers earn less than $90,000 a year—43%, according to a March 2024 analysis of government data. Pew Research Center. Even those who earn more may find that bills add up quickly.

Credit unions, where many federal employees do banking, have begun providing some financial assistance. By 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 closure. It also processed 80 free Delay-a-Pay payments for its members. Likewise, Denver-based Westerra Credit Union and Redwood Credit Union in Northern California have already provided nearly $100,000 in short-term, interest-free loans to their members, with more applications coming in every day.

In Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, the Washington Council's Community Service Agency (AFL-CIO) has been providing emergency financial support through its Federal Worker Solidarity Fund since February. But in recent days, requests for help with groceries, rent, mortgage payments and utilities have skyrocketed, said Sig Meilus, the organization's director.

On Thursday morning, Meilus woke up to see 20 new requests for help that had arrived in her inbox overnight. With no end in sight to the lockdown, she expects the trend to continue.

“This also means that, unfortunately, our funds are quickly depleted,” she says.

Closures are starting to impact communities.

With roughly two-thirds of the civilian federal workforce still working despite the end of annual appropriations, the closure may not be all that obvious to many Americans.

But the longer it drags on, the more the public will begin to feel its economic consequences, said Shai Akabas, vice president for economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Already, Akabas said, there might be a grocery store next to a federal building that isn't as busy, or a daycare center that has fewer kids coming in because their parents are on vacation. Over time, communities that higher density of federal workers One would see less spending overall.

“Not everyone feels it yet, but it actually affects the economy as a whole,” Akabas says.

Although Congress passed a law in 2019 to ensure federal workers would still receive back pay after the shutdown ends, Trump recently suggested furloughed workers shouldn't count on it.

“We’ll see,” Trump said a week after the shutdown. “Most of them will get their wages back and we will try to make sure of that. But some of them were hit very hard by the Democrats, and so they won’t be able to qualify.”

The Trump administration is finding ways to pay some federal workers.

During the shutdown, many federal employees across the government are still receiving their pay as normal. The salaries of some federal employees, including the vast majority of Department of Veterans Affairs employees, are not made up of 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 “budget deception” in an op-ed. interview on The Charlie Kirk Show.

Last week, active-duty military personnel received their paychecks on time after the Defense Department dug deeper into its plans. unused research and development funds to find money.

The Department of Homeland Security's roughly 70,000 law enforcement officers are now also paid from funds allocated to the department in Trump's tax and spending bill last summer. However, many of their own colleagues are not getting paid (and likely won't be until the shutdown ends), creating an uneven playing field among federal employees who are becoming increasingly biased as the shutdown continues.