Editor’s Note: Today is day 35 of the federal government’s partial shutdown impacting approximately 800,000 federal employees. President Trump and Republicans are facing off with Democrats over Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion in federal funds for a U.S.–Mexico border wall. MV Media reporter Kei Ivery, whose father is a federal employee still going to work but not getting paid, shares her thoughts about how the shutdown is impacting her family.

There have been many times when the government has shut down.

There was one instance in 2013 when the government, under President Barack Obama, was shut down for 16 days in October due to Obamacare.

It was Dec. 22, 2018 when President Donald Trump announced that the government would be shut down due to border security. The government has been shut down for over a month so far and it is really starting to affect families everywhere, including mine.

My dad works for the DEA, which is the Drug Enforcement Administration, so my dad is currently going to work and not getting paid. It is really frustrating for my dad to go to work but not have a paycheck come in. It’s almost pointless for him to go to work.

This is affecting us because without a paycheck, our family can’t get very many groceries or pay our bills. We have to budget our money because we don’t want to spend all of it.

One thing that did help our family was applying for a loan in order to have money for the things we need. The only downside about it is we have to pay it all back once my dad gets a paycheck again.

Again, it is super-frustrating to not have a lot of money because we are limited on what we can do.

This is not only affecting my family, this is affecting a lot of government workers and their families all around the United States. I can imagine what it is like for other families and imagine what they are going through because my family is going through the same thing.

It is a super stressful time because we don’t know when the government is going to open back up. It could be a while until it does.

But even though my family and other government workers’ families are going through a tough time, I continue to be thankful for all that I have. I just wish this wasn’t happening.