About 800,000 federal employees will miss their first paycheck of the year starting today, Jan. 11, as the partial government shutdown enters Day 21. In response, American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. issued the following statement: “The federal workers who keep our country safe and deliver vital services to the American public deserve to be paid. But for 40 percent of the federal workforce, this administration has broken that promise by holding employees’ paychecks hostage over demands for a border wall. “Our members’ take-home pay is about $500 a week, and many struggle to make ends meet even without a missed paycheck. This shutdown is putting these workers in the horrible position of trying to figure out how to survive without any income. Every day this shutdown continues is another day of increasing anxiety for federal workers and everyone affected by these political games. Federal employees deserve better, and our country deserves better. I urge the Senate to take up legislation passed by the House that would reopen our government and get all of our employees back to work.”