• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Friday, May 20, 2022
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home National

Federal Workers March on White House Demanding End to Shutdown

Bryan Bowman by Bryan Bowman
01/10/19
in National
US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington

US President Donald Trump. Photo: Kevin Lamarque, Reuters

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Hundreds of federal workers, contractors and supporters marched to the White House on Thursday demanding an end the U.S. government shutdown.

The protest came on the 20th day of the partial government shutdown that has resulted in the closure of nine federal departments, leaving thousands of employees and contractors without pay.

“We don’t want a wall. We just want to work, simple as that,” De’Neal Gilliam, a furloughed employee at the Internal Revenue Service, told The Globe Post outside the White House, adding she feels her and her fellow employees are being treated as “pawns.”

Renewed attempts from Democrats in Congress to pass legislation to reopen the government were unsuccessful Thursday, as Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell refused to bring the bills to the floor for a vote.

On December 19, the Senate unanimously passed a spending bill that would have kept the government open through February. As the House prepared to vote on the bill the next day, President Donald Trump announced he would not sign any bill that did not include at least $5 billion for his proposed border “wall.”

According to experts, a full wall across the nearly 4,000-mile-long U.S. Mexican border would cost between $20 and 50 billion.

Hundreds of federal workers, contractors and supporters spilling into the street in front of the AFL-CIO building, just down the road from the White House. They’re chanting, “we want our pay!” #ShutdownProtest #DC pic.twitter.com/7v4Qt1NPey

— Marissa J. Lang (@Marissa_Jae) January 10, 2019

 Jeffrey David Cox, national president of the American Federation of Government Employee, told the crowd near the White House that his union would continue to fight for workers until the government is reopened. 

“They can bring the United States government to its knees, but we’re going to be fighting, we’re going to be marching, we’re going to be standing up, and we are going to make sure to hold Mitch McConnell accountable,” he said. 

Trump was not in the White House while protesters gathered outside, having left Thursday morning en route to the U.S. border in Texas where he plans to meet with border patrol agents to be briefed on what he’s deemed a “border crisis.”

Speaking to reporters before his departure from the White House, Trump downplayed the plight of federal workers going without pay when asked if he’s considered the human pain the shutdown is causing.

“You know who has more human pain? The parents of people who had children killed by an illegal immigrant that should have never been in the country,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump stormed out of meeting with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer after they refused to agree to his funding demands.

The prior evening, Trump made his case for a border wall during a nationally televised address from the Oval Office, claiming the U.S. faces a crisis of “uncontrolled, illegal migration.”

Furloughed federal workers protest Trump's shutdown in march to White House https://t.co/IfOBWtfQBb

— Josh C Costner (@judaslovesyou) January 10, 2019

Responding to the address, Senator Bernie Sanders said the U.S. faces many crises, but not one at the border.

“The president has stated tonight that this country faces a national emergency. Well, he’s right, but it is an emergency and crisis that he himself has created,” he said. “As we speak, some 800,000 federal employees are going without pay … our federal employees deserve to be treated with respect, not held hostage as political pawns.”

A record number of children and families, predominantly from Central America, have been arriving at the U.S. border seeking asylum protection in recent months. The total number of illegal border crossings, however, remain well below historic heights in the 1990’s.


More on the Subject 

In poignant testimonials in the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, workers from offices like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said many of their colleagues faced swelling financial crises, unable to cover daycare costs, make mortgage payments or pay other bills.

“Many of our professionals are single mothers who are being forced to work without pay, and still have the responsibility to pay for childcare and other expenses, like gas to get to work,” said Eric Young, a union representative for Bureau of Prison employees, the lowest paid law enforcement officers in the nation.

Many workers are living “paycheck to paycheck” but are embarrassed to admit it, said Holly Salamido, an employee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and a leader in the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).

They are missing car payments, risking having their children removed from daycare, and are facing eviction, all events that can hurt a person’s credit rating, which creates lasting financial problems.

Eviction, Daycare Woes: for US Government Workers, Shutdown Bites Hard

Share8Tweet
Bryan Bowman

Bryan Bowman

Email Bryan at bryan.bowman@theglobepost.com or follow him on Twitter @TGPBryanBowman

Related Posts

US President Donald Trump speaks on his administration's response to the coronavirus.
National

Trump Considering Early End to Coronavirus Economic Shutdown

by Staff Writer
March 23, 2020
US President Donald Trump
Featured

Is Trump’s ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign on Iran Working?

by Bryan Bowman
December 7, 2019
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Featured

In Historic Reversal, US Will No Longer Consider Israeli Settlements Illegal

by Staff Writer
November 18, 2019
Everything You Need to Know About the Bolivian Coup and What Comes Next
Featured

Everything You Need to Know About the Bolivian Coup and What Comes Next

by Bryan Bowman
November 13, 2019
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Featured

India Will Not Join China-Backed Trade Deal in Blow to Sprawling Pact

by Staff Writer
November 4, 2019
US President Donald Trump
National

Trump Threatens to Withhold Emergency Aid from Fire-Hit California

by Staff Writer
November 4, 2019
Next Post
Wall Street in Lower Manhattan is easily one of the most famous streets in the world, known for its role in the international financial system

United States Economy: Beguilingly Calm Period Before Proverbial Storm?

US President Donald Trump was to visit the Texas community of McAllen and meet with local border patrol agents during his trip to the US-Mexico border

National Emergency Over Wall Funding: Not So Fast Mr. Trump, Where’s the Fire?

Recommended

Volkswagen logo

German Farmer Sues Volkswagen Over CO2 Emissions

May 20, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Russia Says Economy Grew 3.5 Percent in First Quarter

May 18, 2022
Mexico missing people

Over 100,000 People Reported Missing in Mexico, Data Reveals

May 17, 2022
Shireen Abu Akleh

Jerusalem Archbishop Condemns Israeli Police Raid at Journalist’s Funeral

May 16, 2022
A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
Israel

15 European Nations Urge Israel to Reverse Plans for More Settler Homes

May 13, 2022

Opinion

A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
A man holding a gun

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

May 2, 2022
China Muslim Uyghurs

Unfair Politicization, Corruption, and the Death of Modern Olympism

April 23, 2022
Ukraine war

The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis and the Hierarchies of Western Compassion

April 20, 2022
Chinese leader Xi Jinping

How Wrong ‘How China Can End the War in Ukraine’ Is

April 1, 2022
Ukraine children

The War for Ukraine’s Lives and Minds

March 30, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post