--- title: Wilbur Ross Doesn't Get Why Federal Workers Need Food Banks description: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said he doesn't understand why federal employees are visiting food banks during the government shutdown. canonical: https://time.com/5511994/wilbur-ross-food-banks/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-24T15:20:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:35:25.253Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump's Commerce Secretary Asked Why Furloughed Workers Are Going to Food Banks og:description: He said they should look for loans instead og:url: https://time.com/5511994/wilbur-ross-food-banks/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e674973c4c12220/698943f109208f523d413327/wilbur-ross.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Secretary Of Commerce Wilbur Ross Visits "Lou Dobbs Tonight" og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump's Commerce Secretary Asked Why Furloughed Workers Are Going to Food Banks twitter:description: He said they should look for loans instead twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e674973c4c12220/698943f109208f523d413327/wilbur-ross.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump's Commerce Secretary Asked Why Furloughed Workers Are Going to Food Banks ## 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 [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jan 24, 2019 3:20 PM UTC  Secretary Of Commerce Wilbur Ross Visits "Lou Dobbs Tonight" at Fox Business Network Studios on December 13, 2018 in New York City. Secretary Of Commerce Wilbur Ross Visits "Lou Dobbs Tonight" at Fox Business Network Studios on December 13, 2018 in New York City.Steven Ferdman—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jan 24, 2019 3:20 PM UTC As the partial government shutdown nears its 34th day, federal employees who are furloughed or working without pay are [turning to food banks](http://time.com/money/5502485/government-shutdown-workers-food-banks/), but Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says he doesn’t “really quite understand why.” During an interview with CNBC, [Roll Call reports](https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/wilbur-ross-doesnt-understand-furloughed-federal-workers-need-food-banks), the investment banker said he was aware that federal workers were turning to shelters and other aid as the threat of missing another paycheck looms, but he suggested that they should instead rely on measures like stopgap loans from credit unions. “I know they are, and I don’t really quite understand why,” Ross said of employees visiting food banks. “Because, as I mentioned before, the obligations that they would undertake, say borrowing from a bank or a credit union, are in effect federally guaranteed.” Ross also noted that the estimated 800,000 federal workers affected by the shutdown will “eventually” [get their pay](http://time.com/5500907/bill-back-pay-federal-workers-shutdown-trump/) — though that might [not be the case for some contractors](http://time.com/money/5499388/government-shutdown-2019-federal-contractors-back-pay/) and support staffers — and said they make up only a small portion of the national economy. “Put it in perspective, you’re talking about 800,000 workers, and while I feel sorry for the individuals that have hardship cases, 800,000 workers if they never got their pay, which is not the case they will eventually get it, but if they never got it, you’re talking about a third of a percent on our GDP,” he said. “So, it’s not like it’s a gigantic number overall.” Lara Trump, President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, also recently urged federal employees to look to the future in [an interview with Bold TV](https://bold.global/carrie-sheffield/2019/01/21/lara-trump-on-unpaid-shutdown-workers-generations-after-them-will-thank-them-for-their-sacrifice/). “It is a little bit of pain, but it’s going to be for the future of our country and their children and their grandchildren, and generations after them will thank them for their sacrifice right now,” Trump said. White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow also [told CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/22/trump-advisor-larry-kudlow-gdp-damage-from-government-shutdown-is-temporary.html) the shutdown was “temporary stuff” and said there would be a “snapback right away” when it is over. Fellow adviser Kevin Hassett went even further in an [interview with CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/13/politics/economic-adviser-government-shutdown-vacation/index.html), saying federal employees are “better off” because they would get time off without requesting vacation days, and would eventually receive back pay. In addition to accepting food from shelters, some federal employees have reported [taking on part-time jobs](http://time.com/5504516/federal-workers-odd-jobs-government-shutdown/) to make ends meet, while others have been forced to [delay medical procedures.](http://time.com/5506227/government-shutdown-workers-medical-bills/) Earlier this month, the federal government [advised them](http://time.com/5490296/government-workers-furlough-work-rent/) to offer “manual labor” in exchange for reduced rent payments during the shutdown. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5511994/wilbur-ross-food-banks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5511994/wilbur-ross-food-banks/"},"headline":"Trump's Commerce Secretary Asked Why Furloughed Workers Are Going to Food Banks","datePublished":"2019-01-24T15:20:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:35:25.253Z","description":"He said they should look for loans instead","url":"https://time.com/5511994/wilbur-ross-food-banks/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e674973c4c12220/698943f109208f523d413327/wilbur-ross.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e674973c4c12220/698943f109208f523d413327/wilbur-ross.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Secretary Of Commerce Wilbur Ross Visits \"Lou Dobbs Tonight\"","caption":"Secretary Of Commerce Wilbur Ross Visits \"Lou Dobbs Tonight\"","creditText":"Steven Ferdman—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5511994/wilbur-ross-food-banks/","name":"Trump's Commerce Secretary Asked Why Furloughed Workers Are Going to Food Banks"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Federal Workers and Contractors Talking About How the Government Shutdown Has Impacted Their Lives","description":"Federal workers and contractors talk about how the partial government shutdown has impacted their lives as the shutdown goes into the third week.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/dkUkmxaQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-01-05T17:42:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dkUkmxaQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5511994/wilbur-ross-food-banks/","duration":"PT1M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5511994/wilbur-ross-food-banks/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```