Name: Federal workers miss first full paychecks as shutdown continues
Uploaded: 2025-10-25T03:52:01.876Z
Duration: 4 min
Description: Roughly one million federal employees are estimated to be going without pay during the shutdown. Now, many are expecting to miss the first full paycheck since the shutdown began.

Roughly one million federal employees are estimated to be going without pay during the shutdown. Now, many are expecting to miss the first full paycheck since the shutdown began.

Washington

More than one million U.S. federal workers, including those from the Department of Defense and other major agencies, have missed their first full paycheck as the government shutdown continues. Many affected employees have sought help at food banks, highlighting the growing financial strain. Credit unions are offering interest-free loans to assist federal workers during this period.

The shutdown is also putting food assistance programs at risk, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicating it will not use contingency funds for SNAP benefits once current funding expires. This decision could impact millions of low-income families who rely on food stamps and WIC, as lawmakers urge the USDA to reconsider its stance.

Federal workers miss first full paychecks as shutdown continues

Denise Blake never planned to end up here. I would have never thought in a million years that I would have been in this position to have to go to a food bank. Blake is a federal worker in the Department of Defense and one of over one million federal employees who are not being paid now because of the government shutdown. This whole shutdown, it's like reality is really hitting them because it has gone past like the 10 days or the two weeks. It's now the second longest shutdown in history. And on Friday, tens of thousands of federal workers missed their first full paycheck. Many of them lined up Thursday at a food bank in the Washington DC area. I think we're going to serve 310 clients, federal workers today. The demand is incredibly, incredibly high. More than 700,000 civilian workers at the Department of Defense, plus tens of thousands more at the Departments of Health and Human Services, Veteran Affairs, Homeland Security, and Justice, all on the list of workers missing pay, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Missing a paycheck is a difficult thing for anyone. And there's a variety of income levels that federal workers are at. And some will have some savings and be able to weather a missed paycheck or two. And others are living paycheck to paycheck. Jonathan Burks is with the center and says the longer the shutdown goes on, the harder it will impact federal workers. Air traffic controllers are still on the job because their role is considered essential. But they'll miss their first full paycheck on Tuesday if the shutdown drags on. I don't want my air traffic controllers to take a second job. I want them to do one job. I want them coming to their facilities and controlling the airspace. Now, it's gotten to the point that credit unions, which is where many federal workers do their banking, they're attempting to provide some financial relief. In the meantime, they're approving short-term, interest-free loans for members who are affected by the shutdown, Del. Mara, we are following some breaking news. Scripps News has just confirmed that some SNAP funding may or may not be happening. It is not good news. What can you tell us? Yeah, Del, this is something we have been continuing to watch and try to get updates on, as millions of low-income families expect to see that SNAP funding or the funding that goes towards food stamps, the ability to buy groceries, go to those food banks, that might be necessary, because that funding expires at the end of the month. Our colleague, Jacob Garden-Swartz, obtained an internal memo from the USDA that basically lays out that they do not intend to tap into the contingency funding that they hold onto. It's $5 to $6 billion of contingency funding once that money for the SNAP benefits runs out. And again, that's set to happen at the end of the month. And so this unsigned document basically lays out that, from their standpoint, they say the funds can only be used to supplement existing benefits when Congress has already approved money for the program, not in a situation when funding has expired, which is what we're looking at in the next week or so. Instead, officials with the USDA are saying that the money needs to be held onto in the case of potential disasters that they would then help send the money towards. And they specifically cited Hurricane Melissa that we've obviously been looking at as it moves through the Caribbean. And so Democrats in Congress, all the way to state leaders across the country, have been urging the USDA to tap into this funding because, by their estimates, they're saying that it could cover roughly 2 3rds of the benefits that SNAP families rely on. But again, according to this new internal memo obtained by Scripps News, the USDA, at this time, is not planning on utilizing those funds, Del. Yeah, SNAP affecting, or what we used to refer to as food stamps, affecting 42 million people. WIC, or Women, Infants, and Children, affecting some 7 million others. Scripps News National Correspondent Mar Barrett for us live in Denver. Mar, thank you very much.

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