Mark Pocan

Furloughed federal employees in Wisconsin are facing financial stress as a federal government shutdown continues.

The shutdown is the second-longest in U.S. history, with federal workers set to miss their first full paychecks.

Political gridlock continues as Democrats and Republicans in Congress disagree on how to pass a funding bill.

Some federal workers expressed fear of retribution for speaking out and noted staff cuts had already occurred prior to the shutdown.

MADISON – As October nears its end and the shutdown of the federal government continues with no resolution in sight, furloughed federal employees in the state's capital city say they're ready to get back to work.

"Personally, (it's) starting to get tight," said Grant Kirker, an employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Products Laboratory. "Bills are rolling in at the end of the month, and this is going to be the first week without a paycheck. So, meeting with financial advisers, moving money around and trying to shore everything up."

With a college freshman and a college senior, Kirker said, he has a lot of costs to cover, and even with savings, it's "getting insanely stressful" as it appears Congress is nowhere near breaking through its partisan impasse.

"It's a real disrespect that I think happens to federal employees whenever these (shutdowns) happen, and especially when, we can see the roadmap from Project 2025, this has been (the Trump administration's) plan all along," U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel while meeting on Oct. 22 with a group of furloughed federal employees — most Forest Service workers and members of the National Federation of Federal Employees Local 276.

Pocan fielded questions from the workers and handed out slices of Ian's pizza outside the Social Security Administration office on Madison's west side.

His comments referred to White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, who helped write the policy blueprint known as Project 2025. Vought is playing a key role during the shutdown, including on decisions over whether to impose mass layoffs of federal employees instead of furloughs, and the specifics of which federal funds are cut.

"The uncertainty of not having a paycheck and not knowing when the next one is coming is extremely stressful," said Ellie Lazarcik, also a Forest Products Laboratory employee, who brought her son to the event.

Lazarcik said she considered pulling her son out of daycare entirely while she's furloughed as a way to cut costs, but with the challenges of securing a spot in advance and not knowing when she'll be called back to work, it wasn't feasible.

"I wish people could have some empathy and understand that we're regular people trying to do our jobs, trying to support our families, trying to help the general public," Lazarcik said when asked about public perceptions of federal employees.

Federal workers are set to miss their first full paychecks by the end of this week, and it’s unclear whether members of the military will receive their next paychecks on Oct. 31. This is the second-longest federal shutdown in U.S. history.

House Republicans last month passed a seven-week stopgap funding bill, known as a continuing resolution. But the measure stalled in the Senate as Democrats have demanded provisions extending Affordable Care Act insurance plan subsidies that will expire at the end of the year, while Republicans say health care discussions shouldn't happen until the government reopens.

Republicans need support from a handful of Senate Democrats to bypass the chamber's 60-vote filibuster and approve the measure that would keep the government open until Nov. 21. The effort failed in the Senate for the 11th time on Oct. 20. President Donald Trump has said he will not meet with Democratic leaders until the government is open.

As the seven-week timeline erodes, some lawmakers have also shown a desire to pass a short-term funding bill that would reopen the government until late next year — but Democrats have shown resistance to that idea, too.

"We have to get together and either do a longer-term continuing resolution, or (Republicans) have to address health care," Pocan told the group of federal workers.

On Capitol Hill, top Wisconsin Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is the GOP frontrunner for governor, laid blame on Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin for voting against Republicans’ measure to reopen the government. Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson made similar remarks when asked about effects of the shutdown.

“What we should do is we should — we will vote again on the continuing resolution to open up the government, and that’s what we should do,” Johnson told the Journal Sentinel. “They’re blocking everything. Democrats are blocking everything.”

Several workers who showed up with questions and comments for Pocan declined to share their names with the Journal Sentinel, citing fear of retribution.

Kirker said the Forest Products Laboratory had already lost staff earlier this year as the Trump administration made widespread cuts to the federal workforce in an effort to drastically shrink the size and scope of the federal government. The administration has argued its work is a long-overdue means of rooting out waste, fraud and abuse.

"We've been doom and gloom all year long, because we started in January with these DOGE cutbacks and all this other stuff coming through, and they made federal workers out to be something that's not good. And all we want to do is serve the public. That's what we're here for," Kirker said.

"This isn't waste, fraud and abuse. This is critical function programs that help a lot of people, and we scrap them all and people are going to realize there's something missing. I hope we don't get to that point, but I fear we're already there."

The Office of Personnel Management estimates 18,000 federal employees live in Wisconsin. It is not known how many are furloughed under the shutdown.

Lawrence Andrea contributed from Washington, D.C.

Jessie Opoien can be reached at [email protected].