The partial shutdown of the US federal government entered its sixth day on Thursday, with federal workers and national parks taking the hardest hit during the Holiday season.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th December, 2018) The partial shutdown of the US Federal government entered its sixth day on Thursday, with federal workers and national parks taking the hardest hit during the Holiday season.Under the hashtag #ShutdownStories, federal employees, contractors and others affected by the current shutdown have taken to social media to share their experiences.
The vast majority of posts depicts the financial hardship of families depended on government paychecks. More than 800,000 federal employees could be impacted by the shutdown.
"My husband is federal law enforcement. He had the weekend off but now has to head back to work on Christmas morning with no indication of when/if he will be paid for providing crucial border security. We blame you Donald Trump," a user named Maria Ortega said in a Twitter post on Tuesday.
Though people have started using the hashtag several days ago, it was US President Donald Trump's claim on Tuesday that many federal workers are in favor of a shutdown because they want a border wall that led to a significant uptick in the usage of the hashtag, according to media reports.
"I've worked for the federal [government] for 35 years as an air traffic controller. Army veteran, father of three. Now working for a promise of a future paycheck. I've got a mortgage, bills and school to pay for. And I'm being held hostage for a stupid wall," Chris Boughn said in his post.
Another Twitter user, named Cheri Walker, urged Congress and the president do their job and not use federal workers as their pawns.
"We have four kids under [the age of] five. My husband has been active duty Coast Guard for almost 14 years. Who's paying our mortgage next month?" asked Stacy Boone.
In recent government shutdowns, both furloughed and non-furloughed workers were paid retroactively.
Meanwhile, many national parks have had to close their doors or reduce their services as a result of the federal funding lapse. For many parks, the height of the holiday season is an important period to generate income in the form of visitor fees.
The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the most visited tourist attraction in the state of Hawaii with more than 2 million visitors in 2017, was forced to close parts of the park as well as cease visitor services including public information, park officials said in a news release.
The National Park Service, however, declared on Monday that it had reached more than 40 agreements with states, concessionaires and partner groups to provide visitor services at a number of national parks, according to the New York Times.
Funding for some key government agencies, including the Department of State, expired at midnight on Friday (5:00 a.m. GMT on Saturday) after the Senate failed to secure the 60 votes needed to advance a vote on the House of Representatives-passed spending bill that included the $5.7 billion Trump sought for the border wall.
The US Senate is set to reconvene on Thursday.
The 16-day full government shutdown in October 2013 cost the US economy an estimated $24 billion, according to Standard and Poor's.
