EXCLUSIVE: State Department Employees Responding to National Disasters Face Hardship Amid Shutdown

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The State Department is sounding the alarm on the financial hardship its employees who live paycheck to paycheck are facing amid the federal government shutdown, particularly the essential personnel responding to Hurricane Melissa, The Daily Signal has learned.

Amid the now-monthlong shutdown, the State Department is urging creditors to extend grace on federal employees who are among the 67% of Americans who say they live paycheck to paycheck.

The agency is particularly concerned about the nearly 40 State Department personnel in the Caribbean and in Washington, D.C., working unpaid around the clock to respond to the devastation from Hurricane Melissa.

“While Democrats on Capitol Hill refuse to open the government and continue to deny paychecks to more than a million government workers, State Department officials deployed at a moment’s notice to respond to Hurricane Melissa on the ground in Jamaica,” a State Department official said. “It is past time to reopen the government and restore pay to those who work to safeguard America’s national interests and boldly jump in harm’s way to offer assistance to those in crisis.”

More than 50 deaths have attributed to the monster storm in Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Authorities continued to verify reported deaths.

The State Department sent a letter, obtained by The Daily Signal, to creditors of employees informing them that the staff members may struggle to meet their financial obligations.

“This lapse in appropriations is beyond our employees’ control,” the letter says. “We appreciate your organization’s understanding and flexibility toward State Department employees until this situation is resolved.”

“Our employees will be returned to pay status once funding is appropriated,” the letter continues. “We hope this letter helps explain the pay situation that our State Department employees are currently experiencing through no fault of their own. We extend our thanks in advance for your patience and compassion towards our employees during this time when they are negatively impacted by the lapse in appropriations.”

The Senate Democrat government shutdown has an outsized impact on government workers who make less than the average personal per capita income of D.C. residents and are now being forced to work without pay, a State Department official said.

More than 6,100 State Department employees, nearly a quarter of the agency’s workforce, make less than the city’s personal per capita income of $108,233, according to internal data shared with The Daily Signal.

But the shutdown is having the most drastic impact on the more than 1,700 of those State Department employees making less than $76,900, the annual median salary in Washington, D.C.

A total of 1.4 million civil servants across the country are going without pay and have already missed a paycheck despite many of them continuing to work through the shutdown. Some have been forced to rely on food banks, according to the official.

The leader of the American Federation for Government Employees, the largest union for government workers, urged Senate Democrats to vote to pass a clean continuing resolution to fund the federal government and provide back pay.

“These are patriotic Americans—parents, caregivers, and veterans—forced to work without pay while struggling to cover rent, groceries, gas, and medicine,” AFGE President Everett Kelly wrote.

The State Department warns that the consequences of the shutdown are about to become even worse for Americans facing economic hardship. Food assistance funds like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are set to run out on Saturday.

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