What They’re Saying: FBI Agents Respond to the Shutdown

Update - January 22, 2019:

• An anonymous report by the FBI Agents Association includes agents saying the partial government shutdown "has eliminated any ability to operate" and the job has "never been so hard or thankless." Another agent added that they cannot "protect and serve the American people."
• The FBI Agents Association advocates for more than 14,000 active and former FBI special agents.
• The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

Read Countable's original story below.

What’s the story?

Representatives and employees from various federal agencies are speaking out about the partial government shutdown, which is nearing the one-month mark.

“I’m not going to try to candy-coat it,” Tom O’Connor, a special agent and president of the FBI Agents Association, told The Atlantic. “We really feel that the financial insecurities we are facing right now equate to a national-security issue.”

"I wish they would understand we're not all living in the Beltway," said Forrest Lanning, a Federal Emergency Management Agency earthquake and volcano program manager based in California.

“I constantly worry about being able to take care of my family because I am the sole breadwinner in my home,” Suhailah Stevenson, who works in human resources for the Homeland Security Department, told the Wall Street Journal.

"My wife and I are alright financially for a couple paychecks, but after that it's not looking very good," said a Coast Guard aviator, who told CBS he didn’t want to be named as he’s not supposed to express political views.

• The Transportation Security Administration said wait times at airports are within normal range, despite an increase in absences among agents working without pay.

"On a daily basis, the dedicated TSA men and women across the country who continue to report for work at airports across the nation demonstrate commitment and professionalism at the highest levels," the statement reads.

• But NASA and TSA employees rallied outside the Johnson Space Center Tuesday to protest the ongoing shutdown.

“It’s devastating,” NASA engineer Paramita Mitra told KHOU 11 in Houston. “Moved from Mississippi and uprooted my entire life, so it’s been financially stressful.”

• Clifford Buchanan, a furloughed Detention Center Officer in downtown Houston, also joined the protest.

“Just this morning, I’m trying to figure out which bills to pay and which bills I can’t pay, and calling bill collectors every day, saying ‘Can you give me a break until we get paid?’”

The State of the Shutdown: January 16

• Wednesday, January 16, marks the 26th day of the partial government shutdown.
• Congress and the White House are trying to broker a deal after the House passed a continuing resolution (CR) on December 20th that included $5.7 billion for border security ― including wall construction ― and $7.8 billion in disaster relief along party-lines. It lacked the votes to advance in the Senate, as have bills passed in January by the Democrat-controlled House since the new Congress convened.
• Approximately 800,000 federal workers won't receive their paychecks because of the budget impasse.
• Seven departments have been affected, including Homeland Security, Justice, Housing, Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, and the Treasury.
• Sections of Joshua Tree National Park, Yosemite National Park, and much of Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks are closed. People are reporting longer lines at airports due to short staffing at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints. Other impacts of the shutdown include Smithsonian museums shuttering and various federal agencies putting loan applications on hold. And Native American tribes who receive substantial federal funding are struggling.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: @FelixSchlebusch via Twitter)