“It’s very hard. It’s hard to go in there and do my job 100 percent like I’m supposed to, knowing that I’m not going to get paid.” “Having to go back to work is going to be an expense that I simply can’t afford. It’s going to require, you know, getting gas for my car to go to work. I can’t afford that right now.” “I’ve got to try to keep the lights on or keep the water on and I got to keep my phone on and I don’t know how I’m going to be able to do all of that.” “Like, It’s not our fault. We’ve done our job up to this point. You know, we were working overtime before all this, to be able to meet the taxpayers’ needs.” “I’m under the impression that we are not eligible for unemployment because we are still working. And my employees, many of them are struggling to have money for fuel to come to work.” “You know, I just bought a house. Nov. 13, 2018, and five weeks later, we have a shutdown. So, you know, I was able to make my first payment. We didn’t ask for any of this. We didn’t want to be — we just wanted to go to work and do our job. Period.” “Well, there’s all of this coverage about people in the D.C. area who are getting free lunches and going to food banks and that there is some level of community support there. But out here in, you know, sort of Middle America, out here in Mississippi, we don’t have that network.” “I think to secure the border is important. I guess I can understand where the president’s coming from. But at the expense of 800,000 people’s livelihood? I don’t.” “I think a lot of people just don’t realize that the food that’s on their table, you know, for the most part is inspected by one or another governmental regulatory agency. And so this really is having an impact on everyone’s life, just not on these 800,000 federal employees.” “Get us back to work. Get us our paycheck, and you guys continue your issues. You know, it shouldn’t affect the smaller people in this.”