CINCINNATI — The federal government shutdown stretched into its 35th day on Tuesday, tying the 2019 record for the longest closure in U.S. history.
The congressional gridlock preventing the passage of a funding bill has impacted millions across the U.S., including Cincinnati federal workers who are now reflecting on the milestone moment.
"These last 35 days have been unprecedented," Heidi Tien, president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) Chapter 155, said. "Our employees have been doing the job every single day, showing up without pay—and for the first time in my career, 100% of the employees with U.S. Customs and Border Protection were not furloughed."
WATCH: How Cincinnati federal workers are faring during the historic government shutdown
NTEU Chapter 155 represents CBP workers across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Tien said morale is "terrible" as workers' savings run dry.
"There's a lot of stress, there's a lot of anxiety, there's a little bit of annoyance, like that (workers) don't matter," she said.
The U.S. Senate failed to advance a funding bill for the 14th time on Tuesday, meaning Wednesday will mark day 36 of the shutdown, a new record in U.S history.
"What's most frustrating about the shutdown, to me, is that I just don't see an end in sight," Henry Briggs, a furloughed IRS revenue agent, said. "I'm not sure what's really going to change in the coming weeks to apply the needed pressure to end this."
Briggs spoke with us on Tuesday in his capacity as a board member for NTEU Chapter 9, which represents Cincinnati IRS employees.
"My financial position allows me to weather this better," he said. "There's no extensions on your rent or your mortgage or your light bill; it's all due. It all needs to be paid. A lot of people are filling in the stopgap with credit cards."
Briggs received his furlough notice at the beginning of the shutdown. Since then, he has picked up a side job as a handyman.
"As you can imagine, a tax accountant doing handyman work, it's going about as well as you would think," he joked. "I'm ready to go back to work."
We asked both Briggs and Tien what message they have for congress.
"I would say to think of their constituents instead of maybe their own re-elections," Briggs said. "That goes to both sides of the aisle. I think that they've both probably lost sight of the people that they represent."
"We just want them to get to the table and talk, get to the table and figure out their differences," Tien said. "And, stop making our federal employees the pawns in their political game."
