Sen. Chuck Schumer sent a letter to President Trump urging his administration to “move at all due speed” and ensure the federal employees who have not received a paycheck during the 35-day government shutdown get paid.

“We owe it to the American people to turn the page on this crisis and do everything possible to return to normal operations, and that effort begins with delivering workers’ back pay,” Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, wrote in the letter.

The longest partial government shutdown in US history has created a dire financial crisis for many federal workers, making it difficult for them “to buy groceries, pay their rent, mortgage and other bills,” he said in the letter.

“None of these workers are to blame, but they sure are now suffering,” it said.

In comments announcing the letter on Sunday, Schumer also called for the Trump administration to make whole federal contractors who have not been paid during the shutdown and find a solution for small businesses who lost money.

Citing a S&P Global Ratings Report released last Friday that concluded the nation’s economy took a $6 billion hit over the past month, Schumer said he would back a bipartisan effort from Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) to put an end to future shutdowns.

“Even more importantly, we must avoid shutdowns in the future, because no federal agency should ever be held hostage in this way ever again – and there’s a legislative way, a bi-partisan way to do this, and the next few weeks will provide the opportunity to get it done,” Schumer said on Sunday.

Trump signed a bill last Friday that would reopen the government until Feb. 15 while a bipartisan committee continues to hash out the president’s demand for increased border security, including $5.7 billion in funding for a wall.

About 800,000 federal employees were working without pay or were placed on furlough after the government shut down Dec. 22.