They get paid AFTER the federal government reopens. Until then, they need to go without pay. Unfortunately, they can’t just “shut down” their bills. They still need to pay for food, housing, medical expenses, etc. The lender on their auto loan won’t accept “I can’t pay because my paychecks are being held up” as an excuse for non-payment.
How long would you be able to survive if your job required you to keep working, but didn’t pay you for an indeterminate period of time? I’m lucky and could probably go for about 6 months before things got really hairy, but many people aren’t as well off as I am (and I’m not even that well off to be honest).
For people living paycheck to paycheck, having to do without pay for who-knows-how-long, this could be financially disastrous.
So for some people it isn’t quite so bad. That being said, the government shouldn’t rely on that and that doesn’t make it any less terrible of a decision.
They get paid AFTER the federal government reopens. Until then, they need to go without pay. Unfortunately, they can’t just “shut down” their bills. They still need to pay for food, housing, medical expenses, etc. The lender on their auto loan won’t accept “I can’t pay because my paychecks are being held up” as an excuse for non-payment.
How long would you be able to survive if your job required you to keep working, but didn’t pay you for an indeterminate period of time? I’m lucky and could probably go for about 6 months before things got really hairy, but many people aren’t as well off as I am (and I’m not even that well off to be honest).
For people living paycheck to paycheck, having to do without pay for who-knows-how-long, this could be financially disastrous.
This happens frequently enough that some banks, like USAA, actually will cover for and help you when the government shuts down, https://mobile.usaa.com/inet/wc/ent-gov-shutdown-assistance-landing-mkt
So for some people it isn’t quite so bad. That being said, the government shouldn’t rely on that and that doesn’t make it any less terrible of a decision.