“I’m not a high-paid salary, federal bureaucrat in Washington. I’m an air conditioning mechanic.” “My husband is an electronics technician in the United States Coast Guard.” “I work at the United States Department of Agriculture.” “My husband is an attorney for the Department of Commerce.” “We work for the U.S.D.A. in rural housing.” “My husband is active duty.” “I’ve been a government employee, now, for 29 years. Today, was the first time in my life that I actually filed for unemployment insurance. It was quite a moment.” “It’s just my husband and I. I’m coming to the point to where I don’t know if I should just go ahead and apply for unemployment. If I should look for, maybe, temporary work. We’re going to need another income pretty soon.” “The prospect that, for no reason at all, I may have to find another permanent job is very frustrating and it speaks to a kind of waste. You know, the taxpayers would have to fund the whole hiring process for my replacement.” “I have an autoimmune condition that causes severe nerve pain and made the decision to cut back work hours so I could focus on my health and get more treatment. But we can’t now get on my husband’s plan because my husband works for the federal government and they’re not processing the special enrollments right now.” “I was due to retire from the government on Dec. 30. The lady that was processing my, my pension has been furloughed. I can’t even retire.” “My husband is working without pay. We’re very stressed about our bills and how we’re going to manage them. There’s a food pantry that was started by the spouses club and that is helping every single family here.” “And we’re just, we’re conserving really. You know, the food pantry is great. You know, we’re trying to, you know, make meals that last. No spending in excess. You know, as much as I want that Starbucks it’s not happening.” “My medicine is getting low. I have diabetes and I’m a breast cancer survivor. Some of my medications are getting low.” “If the shutdown keeps going on, then I can’t delay my care anymore. I’ll get a lot worse. So, it really means my husband is not going to have a paycheck. I’m going to have a paycheck that’s a lot lower than it was and we’re going to be paying a lot more.” “We need to come together and realize that this hurts all of us.” “And it’s going to start hurting everyone pretty soon. So, please stop and put your petty differences to the side and open us back up. If the issue’s with the wall, deal with the wall later. But open us back up. We want to work.”