Life after the Shutdown: What to expect

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)-- The longest shutdown in United States history but some borderland federal workers who haven’t received a paycheck in weeks will still have to wait for back pay. 

ABC-7 spoke to the AFGE local 1050 President, Gabriel Ochoa he said he has not received any guidance on when federal workers will be paid. He said he will be reaching out to the payroll department, but he said people are still trying to get their bearings.

"Everybody's just getting back to day. So I'm going to give them a day and probably tomorrow reach out and find out what's what's going on," Ochoa said.

Ochoa told ABC-7 he doesn't know what the next paycheck will look like. He said it could be a lump sum that workers are owed from the past couple of pay periods.

Ochoa says workers aren’t concerned about how the money comes, either lump sum or installments.
“A check is a check.”

"I mean, of course they're going to they're going to heavily tax it. I mean, because the more you make, the more taxes you get pay, right? You get you're going to pay. I mean is, is is it fair? No, it's not fair," Ochoa told ABC7, "but my concern right now is just getting them that paycheck. Right. That's that's the concern is that they have money to pay the rent because we've had officers that were already getting eviction notices."

Ochoa told ABC-7 for many, the financial fallout was immediate and severe.

“It’s a huge stress not knowing where your next meal’s coming from or if you’re going to be able to pay your rent… we had people already starting to get 30-day notices," said Ochoa.

Ochoa says countless federal workers live paycheck to paycheck—and this shutdown pushed them to the edge.

Adding to the anxiety: the funding deal only keeps most agencies open through January.

“We do not want another shutdown. We would like both sides of the aisle to play nice together," Ochoa told ABc-7.

He hopes lawmakers think about the real lives impacted by their decisions, “federal workers were held hostage in this.”

Despite all the uncertainty, Ochoa says he’s proud of those who continued showing up.

“The TSA officers who worked without pay this country is safer because of them.”