Grounded paychecks: 60,000 air safety workers tighten belts as US shutdown drags on

By Doyinsola Oladipo

(Reuters) -The 60,000 men and women responsible for keeping American skies safe have gone unpaid throughout the government shutdown. Without a funding agreement soon, many will be forced to dip into savings, rack up credit-card debt, or take on part-time jobs to make ends meet, several federal employees said.

The shutdown is now three weeks old, and rapidly approaching the time when the tens of thousands of government employees who keep security lines moving and air traffic safe will miss a full paycheck. Those workers last received paychecks in mid-October, and those checks were missing up to two days’ worth of pay.

“People are saying, ‘Well, when I get off work, I’m going to do Uber or DoorDash or Lyft or something like that because I need to put food on the table