MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Kathy Kulani heads a union that represents IRS workers. On Tuesday, she said she and other employees just want the partial government shutdown to end.
South Florida Democrats Representatives Debbie Wasserman Shultz and Ted Deutch made a plea in behalf of the 13,000 federal employees statewide who are struggling through this. Kulani said she has met with the lawmakers personally to try get answers.
"People are concerned about putting food on their table, single mothers," Kulani said. "I have a gentleman who has a child with serious health issues. We don't know how he is going to get the help he needs."
Federal employees are expecting to miss their first paycheck this week. Federal government employees are planning to protest around the country on Thursday.
On their 17th day out of work, federal employees want all Americans to stand up for them and help get them back to work. Robert Guevara heads the local union that represents airline inspectors. All of them have been furloughed. He said he would fly with no inspectors at work.
"This is not a political issue for us, this is an aviation safety issue," Guevara said. "There has been a lot of rhetoric on tv about federal employees being Democrats. We are neither Democrats or republican, in reality we are american patriots we serve the public."