'Enough is enough': Unpaid federal workers back shutdown to push back against Trump

Several federal employees who are now working without pay amid the ongoing government shutdown say they’re willing to endure the uncertainty of a paycheck, so long as lawmakers use it to push back against the Trump administration, NBC News reported Thursday night.

“We run the risk, if this goes on longer than a week or two, of not being able to pay our mortgage and the possibility of losing our house,” said one woman who’s married to a Transportation Security Administration employee, speaking with NBC News anonymously out of fear of retaliation from the Trump administration.

“Everybody thinks that federal workers get paid this really good money, but what my husband does, people who are in the military, who work for TSA, they struggle just like everybody else. They are going to work without being paid, they’re wondering, without this paycheck, how am I going to pay this bill, where’s my next meal going to come from?”

The woman’s husband was deemed an essential employee, and as such, is required to work through the government shutdown, and without pay. And yet, despite the uncertainty, her husband, along with “several others with whom NBC News spoke” with, told the outlet they were supportive of a shutdown if it meant standing up to the Trump administration’s mass firings and cuts to federal agencies and health insurance programs.

“This is not something that any federal worker wants, but at the same time, enough is enough,” said M.T. Snyder, a National Labor Relations Board employee, speaking with NBC News. “We really need to stand up for our services that we provide and the agencies that enforce laws because, since Trump has been in office, his main goal has been destroying these agencies.”

Trump has already said he would slash roughly 300,000 federal workers in 2025, making good on his campaign pledge to drastically cut federal spending and trim the federal government. And, with Trump threatening to trim the federal workforce even more amid the government shutdown, specifically “Democrat agencies,” federal workers say they’re afraid to speak out against the administration publicly.

“I was never afraid to speak my mind before, I never felt afraid to talk; now, people are afraid,” said one Arizona TSA worker who was forced to borrow money and refinance their home due to the shutdown, speaking with NBC News.

“I’m working as a civil servant for the citizens of America to make their traveling safe. Do you want me worrying about your safety or do you want me worrying about how am I going to feed my kid? How am I going to be able to afford her medication? How are we going to survive? Am I going to lose my house?”