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KLAS: Rep. Susie Lee, colleagues drop letter to end shutdown off to Sen. Mitch McConnell

January 16, 2019

The United States has reached day 26 in the partial government shutdown. That means some 420,000 federal employees whose work is declared essential are working without pay, including at the FBI, TSA and other federal law enforcement offices.

Some staff at the State and Homeland Security departments are also working without compensation.

Some federal workers are even taking on odd jobs to make ends meet. They have more options than in past shutdowns.

In Nevada, more than 100 furloughed federal government workers have applied for SNAP benefits across Nevada, and that number is slowly rising after it was announced that SNAP payments for February will be issued on Sunday, Jan. 20.

The White House tried to bypass House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in shutdown negotiations, but rank-and-file House Democrats declined an invitation to lunch Tuesday with President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, Congresswoman Susie Lee (D-NV) released the following statement after leading her colleagues in hand delivering a letter signed by more than 30 Freshman Members to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in order to urge the Senate to take up and pass the multiple pieces of legislation the House has passed and end the shutdown:

"We're all sick of this shutdown and the suffering it has caused for the 800,000 federal workers. That's why the House has voted seven times since the first day of the 116th Congress to re-open our government. We all agree that this shutdown has gone on far too long and continues to hurt our economy to the tune of $1.2 billion per week. We all agree that we need to make improvements to our immigration system, including border security. That's why today, I led my colleagues to Senator Mitch McConnell's office to urge him to do his job and end this unnecessary shutdown once and for all, so we can begin to focus on policy."

Read the full letter here.

Since the shutdown, nine of the 15 Cabinet-level departments have not been funded, including Agriculture, Homeland Security, State, Transportation, Interior and Justice. Some iconic National Park facilities are shuttered as are the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo in Washington. Nearly everyone at NASA is being told to stay home.

Issues:Congress