Not Getting Paid Because of the Government Shutdown? Tell Us What This Means for You and Your Family.

About 800,000 federal employees or contractors will not get paychecks this week.

Two federal employees in Detroit, Michigan, call for an end to the government shutdown. Paul Sancya/AP

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The partial government shutdown has now entered its third week, and on Friday, an estimated 800,000 federal workers and contractors will not be receiving their paychecks. The shutdown, which began December 22, has affected nine agencies, including services at national parksimmigration courts, and the IRS. Many workers have been furloughed or are working without pay, and thousands have begun applying for unemployment benefits.

While President Donald Trump and the Democrats remain at an impasse over border wall funding, the shutdown has left many federal workers unsure of how they will pay their rent and bills. Government agencies have gone so far as to recommend that workers barter with their landlord and hold garage sales. On Thursday, thousands of federal workers held a protest at the White House to call for an end to the shutdown. As one employee told Mother Jones: “We just want to get back to work. We are frustrated this isn’t resolved. This has gone on just way too long.”

If you are a federal worker or contractor affected by the shutdown, we’d like to hear from you: What does missing a paycheck mean for you and your family? How are you dealing with this situation? Let us know in the form below, send us an email at talk@motherjones.com, or leave us a voicemail at (510) 519-MOJO. We may use some of your responses for a follow-up story.

We’re also taking your questions: What do you wish you better understood about the government shutdown? What would you like us to look into?

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

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