Food stamps, health care, taxes: How the government shutdown is affecting Americans | CNN

How the government shutdown is affecting Americans

Harmeet Kaur Christina Kline
By Harmeet Kaur and Christina Kline, CNN
Updated 2:54 PM EST, Wed January 9, 2019
The U.S. Capitol is pictured on July 27, 2017 in Washington, DC.
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What a government shutdown could mean for you
00:56 - Source: CNN

What we covered here

  • We asked for your shutdown stories. Here’s what you told us. (CNN hasn’t been able to independently verify all of these accounts. The responses have been lightly edited for clarity. Update: Some accounts have been updated to clarify information or to remove incorrect information after CNN interviewed respondents.)
  • We’re more than two weeks into the shutdown. On Sunday, President Trump said he might declare a national emergency to secure funds for a border wall. The wall has been at the center of the shutdown dispute.

Partial government shutdown starts in

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53 Posts

Her husband is going to adopt her daughter, but they can't afford to have it finalized yet

Courtney Thoms writes that she and her husband both work with a federal contractor for NASA, and they are both going without pay. She says before the shutdown began, they started proceedings for her husband to adopt her daughter.

“Now that we aren’t getting paid, we can’t afford the Guardian Ad Litem the court is requesting to finalize her adoption on the 15th of this month,” Thoms says.

Thoms says they are worried about how they will afford their mortgage because they traveled over the holidays to see family.

“We weren’t expecting this, or we would have saved our money,” she says.  

She is facing homelessness

Cynthia Letts writes:

They have little to no food in their home

Ravyn Senter writes:

Staffing for the agency overseeing the federal food stamps program has been cut by 95% because of the ongoing government shutdown.

He can't finish his job application

Morgan Saul writes:

She just applied for unemployment

Jennifer P. says she and her husband are both federal workers. She just paid off her student loans, but that’s left her with very little savings.

Because of the shutdown, Jennifer says she and her husband have been trying to cut costs any way they can. She says they’ve been staying mostly at home, mining cupboards and forgoing outings with friend to cover the bills.

“We live in a very expensive valley, so it’s not the best location to be unemployed in, and it’s hard to get temporary work here since we don’t know how long we will be furloughed for.”

He's worried about the contractors who might not get paid when the shutdown is over

Trevor Bousu is an Air Traffic Control supervisor who works at Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center. He says he has “been proud of the work my controllers have done day in and day out without knowing when we will be paid next.”

Bousu says there is an “older Hispanic woman who diligently does her job of emptying garbages, vacuuming the facility and making our workplace clean.”

He’s concerned that the woman is unaware that she may not receive pay when the shutdown is over.

“Now I pray that is not the case, but she is just an example of hardworking people getting hurt the most.”

They're worried they may lose their daycare spots

Rosalind Brooks says she is a single mother of two children who are still in daycare.

She writes:

“With the government still shutdown, no income in sight, and savings running low, I may be forced to withdraw my children from daycare.”

“If I have to, they will possibly lose their spot and I won’t have any care for them in the event we are forced to return to work without pay.”

Michelle V says her husband is a furloughed employee of the US Forest Service. Being without his paycheck is causing childcare worries for her family too.

“Theoretically my husband could watch our girls, but then we would lose our spot and be in a heap of trouble when the shutdown ends,” she says.

The shutdown is holding up life-saving treatments

Sarah Doerr says her 6-year-old son has a rare, neurodegenerative disease called PKAN. She says the clinical trial for a potentially life-saving treatment is in the final stages of FDA review and approval, and that she was hoping the trial would start in early 2019.

Tony says he runs a drug company with a drug licensed from the National Institutes of Health.

She says her husband should be 'essential' enough to get paid

Kimberlee Roberts, a stay-at-home mother of three children, says her husband works for Customs and Border Protection. She says he has to show up for work without getting paid, and “has been forced on overtime shifts because of short staffing.”

“We are just normal people who make enough to live. Missing paychecks, however, would be catastrophic to our family. We don’t appreciate being used as pawns in a political game. It may not affect Congress to keep the government closed, but it definitely affects the regular family just trying to pay our bills,” Roberts writes.

Some are considering other jobs

Steven Potter says he’s been a federal employee for three years. This is his second time being furloughed. He writes:

Gloria writes:

Meanwhile, Steve writes that as a federal law enforcement officer, he still must work without pay.

Steve says he has had to call his creditors to have bills postponed, and has also asked his landlord to postpone his rent payment.

The shutdown may impact this woman catching up on her mortgage

“Every single year I have to skip my Wells Fargo mortgage payment of $560 on our modest $69,000 home, just to afford Christmas for our 3 sons,” Brandi Taylor writes.

Taylor says her husband, a former USN Airman, has one lung and “has been out of work since diagnosis.” She says they can’t simply find an extra $600.

IRS worker of 28 years says she may have to figure out what she's going to do

Lorie McCann is a furloughed federal worker. On January 1, she paid her bills for the month and realized that the money was from her last paycheck.

“It is very stressful,” she says.

McCann has been an IRS worker for 28 years. She tells CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield that if the shutdown goes on much longer, she’ll have to make some tough decisions. That could include filing for unemployment, or looking for a second job.

“I am going to have to figure out what I’m going to do to sustain my lifestyle,” McCann says. “And just to be able to eat, honestly.”

Watch the moment:

He needs his tax refund for surgery

James Laurick says he needs surgery. He says he was planning on using his tax refund to pay his insurance co-payment.

Because the IRS is among the federal agencies affected by the shutdown, tax refunds maybe be delayed this year.

Laurick says he will likely have to wait “in pain every day” for his tax refund.

The shutdown is taking a toll on prison workers

Some employees at federal prisons are considered “essential,” and required to work without pay through the shutdown.

Here are some stories from prison workers and their family members.

Samantha writes:

Nik writes:

Sean writes:

Lindsey writes:

Home buyers and sellers feel uncertain amid the shutdown

Katie Venable says she is a high school special education math teacher and first-time home buyer. Venable says she is planning to use a USDA loan but can’t have the loan completed because of the shutdown.

Lauren Dutrow writes that the buyer of her home has a USDA Direct Loan and cannot get funds released to purchase it because the agent coordinating their loan is on furlough due to the shutdown. Dutrow says she has to sell her home to purchase her new one, and says she may lose out if they keep having to extend the settlement.

Jenny Wilcox says she is a young parent with a foster child who was getting ready to close on her first mortgage in December using USDA.

The shutdown could affect tribal nations

Dante B. Halleck says he works at a federal hospital that serves a tribal nation. If the shutdown continues for months, Halleck says that employees might leave.

“There are very few people who can live without a paycheck for months, let alone a year. I am already looking to backup plans in the private sector. I have to – my wife and I just had a new baby,” he says.

Halleck says the shutdown could be detrimental to Native American communities.

According to Kaiser Health News, the shutdown has put some health services for Native Americans on hold.

The Indian Health Service will continue to provide services that “meet the immediate needs of patients, medical staff and medical facilities” during the shutdown, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

But other programs for tribal nations are taking a hit.

IHS won’t be funding grants to tribal health programs and health clinics run by the Office of Urban Indian Health Program.

They thought their troubles were over. Then the shutdown hit.

From CNN's Nicole Chavez

Just before Christmas, Jessica Caraballo and her husband got the break they had long worked for.

In their three-year marriage, the 31-year-old and her husband, Shalique, have gottenjob after job trying to support their children. She has driven for Uber, he embalmed bodies at an Atlanta funeral home, and she worked all night at a Walmart store.

It was just last month when things finally appeared to be falling into place. Caraballo, a Transportation Security Administration officer at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, was promoted to a full-time position and her husband got a new job selling cars.

Buying a home, getting a second car and even just enrolling their three children in extracurricular activities at school would now be more than just dreams, they said.

But their joy lasted only a few days.

The partial government shutdown left Caraballo and 420,000 other federal workers across the country forced to work without a paycheck. Two weeks have passed and dozens of families like the Caraballos have put their lives on hold.

“Rent is due, light bill, gas bill, my car bill is due the 26th,” Caraballo said. “I already got my last paycheck and there’s no paycheck to come.”

Read the full story here.

Nanny calls out the shutdown's 'trickle-down effect'

Tyra Simpkins says she is a nanny who receives Social Security benefits. She cares for a boy whose mother is a federal employee. Since his mother is not working, the boy stays home, and Simpkins does not work.

Simpkins says she’s already lost $800 in 14 days, “with no end in sight.”

His bills and 'unexpected expenses' are surpassing his savings

Cody Russell writes:

'Are you going to work today?' her daughter asks daily

Jennifer Kittleson says she works for USDA-FSA as a program technician in North Dakota. She says she is a single parent who gets minimal child support for her two children. Living paycheck to paycheck, Kittleson says she is worried about when her next one will arrive. She says all of her bills are paid until mid-January, when the second half of the monthly bills come in.

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GO DEEPER
Millions could lose food assistance if shutdown drags on
The shutdown’s surprising impacts, from weddings to beer
TSA senior leaders discuss how to keep screeners at their posts
How the shutdown is messing with your great American vacation