Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross doesn’t “quite understand why” federal workers are going to homeless shelters to get food because they are hungry from the government shutdown.

“It’s kind of disappointing that the air traffic controllers are calling in sick in pretty large numbers, depending on the week,” said Ross, when asked whether he was worried about safety. “Remember this, they are eventually going to be paid.”

“Is the debate over everything else that the administration is fighting for worth more than the risk that’s being taken on at this very moment and the effect that it’s been having on these federal workers?” asked CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin.

As Sorkin implored about the federal workers who are surviving on a check-to-check basis, Ross deferred to “government guaranteed loans” from banks and credit unions.

“There really is not a good excuse why there should be a liquidity crisis,” he said. “True, people might have to pay a little bit of interest, but the idea that it’s paycheck or zero is not a really valid idea. There’s no reason why some institution wouldn’t be willing to lend.”

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