--- title: Trump: 'I Can Relate' to Workers Who Can't Pay Their Bills description: President Donald Trump said he "can relate" to federal workers who cannot pay their bills because of the partial government shutdown. canonical: https://time.com/5494941/trump-shutdown-federal-workers-bills/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-06T16:52:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:01.217Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Says He 'Can Relate' to Federal Workers Who Can't Pay Their Bills og:description: "Many of those people agree 100 percent with what I’m doing” og:url: https://time.com/5494941/trump-shutdown-federal-workers-bills/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e89616a4ca11084/698942b68fd2ee204835d855/trump-can-relate.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President Trump Departs The White House For Camp David og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Says He 'Can Relate' to Federal Workers Who Can't Pay Their Bills twitter:description: "Many of those people agree 100 percent with what I’m doing” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e89616a4ca11084/698942b68fd2ee204835d855/trump-can-relate.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says He 'Can Relate' to Federal Workers Who Can't Pay Their Bills > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Federal Workers and Contractors Talking About How the Government Shutdown Has Impacted Their Lives [Watch (HLS stream): Federal Workers and Contractors Talking About How the Government Shutdown Has Impacted Their Lives](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dkUkmxaQ.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2019-01-05. Federal workers and contractors talk about how the partial government shutdown has impacted their lives as the shutdown goes into the third week._  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Jan 6, 2019 4:52 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 6: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before departing the White House for Camp David on January 6, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chris Kleponis - Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 6: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before departing the White House for Camp David on January 6, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chris Kleponis - Pool/Getty Images) Pool—Getty Images .S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before departing the White House for Camp David on January 6, 2019 in Washington, DC.  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Jan 6, 2019 4:52 PM UTC President Donald Trump said he “can relate” to federal workers who cannot pay their bills because of the partial government shutdown. Trump was asked by a reporter on Sunday if he could understand what federal workers who cannot pay their bills are going through. The shutdown has led to [about 800,000 workers](http://time.com/5492953/government-shutdown-effects/) being furloughed or expected to work without pay. “I can relate, and I’m sure that the people that are on the receiving end will make adjustments, they always do, and they’ll make adjustments,” Trump said. “People understand exactly what’s going on. But many of those people that won’t be receiving a paycheck, many of those people agree 100 percent with what I’m doing.” On Friday, the President said that he was willing to allow the shutdown to last [“months or even years”](http://time.com/5494324/trump-resists-opening-government-amid-shutdown/) if funding is not allotted for a border wall. Although Sunday marks 16 days since the government shutdown, Congress does not appear to be close to reaching an agreement on the budget. President Trump tweeted yesterday that there had been “not much headway” in negotiations. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1081658090792148993) Experts say that the federal government has already cost the country [billions of dollars](http://time.com/money/5494004/government-shutdown-costs-trump-border-wall/). > [](https://twitter.com/KellyO/status/1081928168838230017) ## Transcript I'm not allowed to work due to the government shutdown, As a contractor I'm in an interesting position that, unlike an employee of the federal government, I'm not allowed to work and I will not get back pay. I'm forced to use all my vacation time, and then I'm put on leave without pay. Alright. Just have to wait till things open back up and use up our savings or whatever we'll have to do to keep things moving on. I think the uncertainty is really hard cause you just have no idea whether this is, whether I'm gonna lose a week of income or a month of income. I mean, at what point to it aside to go find a different job and. You know, sort of leave the project you're working on high and dry in a sense . >> They gave us two letters, for example. They give you this mass letter that you can present this to your creditor and let them know that you are shut down but you will get paid. That creditor can care less. About that letter. This is not my first shutdown. I've been with the Internal Revenue Service over 25 years. I already know that letter means absolutely nothing to the creditor. Nothing. It will still get reported out if you miss a bill. It's like I'm sitting at my home with a hoodie on. Because I know I could turn the thermostat down And kind of cut back on what my life would have been. We're almost the pawns in a political chess game, and it has nothing to do with us. We're federal employees. We're apolitical. We're not supposed to have opinions on these things. And to involve us in this at such a personal level by essentially holding hostage our paychecks Well, they fight amongst themselves over political issues is unfair, it's unfair to everybody. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5494941/trump-shutdown-federal-workers-bills/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5494941/trump-shutdown-federal-workers-bills/"},"headline":"President Trump Says He 'Can Relate' to Federal Workers Who Can't Pay Their Bills","datePublished":"2019-01-06T16:52:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:01.217Z","description":"\"Many of those people agree 100 percent with what I’m doing”","url":"https://time.com/5494941/trump-shutdown-federal-workers-bills/","keywords":["White House","politics","trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e89616a4ca11084/698942b68fd2ee204835d855/trump-can-relate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e89616a4ca11084/698942b68fd2ee204835d855/trump-can-relate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Departs The White House For Camp David","caption":"President Trump Departs The White House For Camp David","creditText":"Pool—Getty Images .S. 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