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Federal workers who live in Maryland participated in a virtual town hall Monday night, hosted by Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks to raise concerns about the federal government shutdown.
Some participants, such as Amanda from Reisterstown, sounded defeated: “We’re feeling pretty beat down at this point.”
While others such as Joe from Germantown, were pushing for action: “I want to know what you’re doing to fight back against this.”
Rayna from Upper Marlboro was among those who asked practical questions: “The backpay for federal workers, I just want to know what kind of guarantee that we will see this?”
That backpay is guaranteed by law, Van Hollen said.
He said when federal employees are hurt, everyone in the country gets hurt because they lose government services.
“I want to thank our federal employees, they are great patriots,” Van Hollen said. “They perform vital services for the American people.”
Alsobrooks said she has felt the pain of the shutdown, because she knows so many federal workers personally.
“It hurts all of us,” Alsobrooks said. “The thing that is so ridiculous about this shutdown, is it hurts both Democrat and Republican families.”
The Senate held a pair of votes Monday aimed at funding the federal government, but neither proposal came close to gaining the 60 votes needed to advance.
The last government shutdown, the nation’s longest, ended in January 2019 after 35 days.
The current government shutdown would enter its second week Wednesday.
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