All eyes are on our nation's Capitol. The countdown to a government shutdown is now less than 24 hours away.
It's expected to be a long weekend in Washington, D.C. After Friday, congress tried and failed again to devise a deal to keep the government funded.
Millions of federal workers and many government programs remain threatened by tomorrow's midnight deadline.
“It’s really tough for people,” said Anne Powell, a food safety inspector for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Powell is also a union representative for about 80 food inspectors in the DFW area.
“We inspect the plants that produce food products for America, mainly meats products, beef, chicken, pork,” she explained.
Like federal prison and TSA employees, food inspectors are considered essential workers and will have to continue to work through a government shutdown without pay.
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“It’s very demoralizing, it’s very frustrating, and we feel like we're not heard, we're not seen, we're taken advantage of in a lot of ways,” said Powell.
During the last government shutdown in 2019, Powell helped deliver care packages to furloughed food inspectors.
But with the cost of living rising across the board since then, Powell says, “Most of us will have to take out a loan, and it’s hard to know how much. You don't want to get too much; you don't want to get too little. You don't want to rely on your credit cards, I mean, we're not going to get interest for the money that they finally pay us,” said Powell.
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Powell says union members are growing increasingly worried about how they will pay bills and for how long.
She has this message for Congress: “Find special provisions or emergency funds to pay the essential employees that are going to work,” said Powell. “We really need it.”
