As the U.S. government shutdown entered its third day on Friday, October 3, the toll of congressional gridlock is beginning to hit home for hundreds of thousands of federal workers. For Stephanie Rogers, a 44-year-old microbiologist with the Food and Drug Administration and a single mother of two teenage daughters, the political stalemate has left her both financially strained and emotionally exhausted.
“My poor children are also stressed out,” Rogers, of Littleton, Colorado, told reporters. “As much as I try to shield them from what is happening, they’re aware that mommy is not okay. I’m trying to keep my options open and do the best I can in this. So it’s a mixed bag.”
Rogers is one of the roughly 750,000 federal employees affected by the shutdown, which took effect on October 1 when Congress failed to pass a spending bill to keep the government open. With lawmakers at an impasse over how to fund federal operations, millions of Americans are now caught in the fallout of partisan bickering.
The dispute stems largely from a standoff between President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans on one side and Democrats on the other, with Democrats holding firm on their demands for Obamacare tax credits. Without a compromise, agencies across Washington have been forced to furlough staff, delay paychecks, and suspend vital services.
Rogers, who has worked at the FDA for 16 years and once served as a chapter president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said her agency had been bracing for the possibility of a shutdown since August. “We were given shutdown information from the [FDA] commissioner, Marty Makary,” she explained. “We knew, because we had a meeting before the shutdown: ‘Hey, we know that most of you will be laid off.’ But they didn’t say who. You had to wait until the day of the shutdown to find out if it was you or your coworker.”
For Rogers, that prospect is alarming. “It is something that I am trying to plan for,” she said. “I’ve applied for unemployment, I’ve pulled money out of my retirement. I’m actively looking for jobs just to make ends meet, if that is the eventuality in the next week.”
Though still technically employed, Rogers has begun making contingency plans. Her health insurance remains active for now, which prompted her to rush to schedule appointments and secure medications for herself and her daughters before the shutdown began. “Even up to September 30, I was going to the eye doctor, trying to make sure I could get the things I needed before I could be cut off,” she recalled. “And for my children, I had to ask for early refills on their medications because I didn’t know if I would be able to get them later or if I’d even have the money to pay for them.”
The impact has not only been financial, but deeply personal. Rogers admits she has been losing sleep, her mind consumed by uncertainty about how she will continue to provide for her daughters if the shutdown drags on. “I’m terrified,” she said. “This is not something I ever wanted my children to experience. But here we are.”
