NY furloughed workers fearful over govt shutdown
(10 Jan 2019) Furloughed federal workers joined several local organizations in Staten Island Thursday calling for an end to the partial government shutdown, as the showdown over a border wall dragged into day 20. Park rangers Kathryn Gilson and Sean Ghacala told reporters the wait is starting to take a toll on both their finances and their mental health. "I can't go anywhere, I can't really spend money so I'm kind of just sitting and staring at the wall and trying not to lose my mind watching too much Netflix," said Gilson, who works for the National Park Service. "It's, actually, probably going to cause me to go into depression if it lasts too much longer," she then added. Ghacala, who has worked at the African Burial Ground National Monument in Manhattan for years, said he was considering gigs in plumbing to make ends meet. As February looms, "you can only dip into savings but so much until, you know, it's just not possible," he said. Local organizations Dream Action Coalition, La Colmena Staten Island Job Center, Communications Workers of America, among others, joined Gibson and Ghacala in a show of solidarity. The partial government shutdown dragged into a 20th day with hundreds of thousands of federal workers off the job or working without pay as the wall fight persisted. President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to declare a national emergency to circumvent Congress if he can't reach a deal with Democrats to fund his promised border wall. He spent most of the day in Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border to draw further attention to his case after negotiations with lawmakers blew up. Asked about a national emergency declaration, Trump said as he left the White House, "I'm not prepared to do that yet, but if I have to I will." The president contends such a declaration would allow him to direct the military to begin wall construction. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
