It was not lost on Private Lucas Jenkins as he hugged his wife-to-be in Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport that their Christmas Day reunion was possible, in part, because federal employees were still on the job despite a partial government shutdown.
“If they didn’t work, I wouldn’t be able to come home,” he said.
His fiance, Brooke Gardner of Columbus, was nervous with anticipation Christmas Eve. So, as a way to keep busy, she made the sign that greeted Jenkins, arriving from Hawaii, as he exited the secure area of the airport.
It read: “Merry Christmas, Pvt. Jenkins. Report for kisses from your future Mrs.”
During the shutdown, about 400,000 federal employees are furloughed. Another 400,000 are working without pay because their jobs are considered essential functions. This includes Transportation Security Administration workers responsible for screening passengers, luggage and cargo at airports, and air traffic controllers who ensure that planes take off and land safely. In all, about 25 percent of the government is shut down over the stalemate.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he intends to keep the federal government closed until he secures his desired $5 billion in funding from Congress for his promised border wall with Mexico.
“I can’t tell you when the government is going to reopen,” he said during a White House photo op Tuesday. “I can tell you it’s not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they’d like to call it. I’ll call it whatever they want. But it’s all the same thing. It’s a barrier from people pouring into our country.”
The president defended his plan to construct a wall that he insisted only an Olympic athlete would be able to scale. “If you don’t have that, then we’re just not opening,” Trump said.
“Many of those workers have said to me, communicated - stay out until you get the funding for the wall,” Trump said. “These federal workers want the wall.”
His claim conflicts with the accounts of federal workers’ union leaders.
“Federal employees should not have to pay the personal price for all of this dysfunction,” said Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 150,000 members at 33 federal agencies and departments. “This shutdown is a travesty. Congress and the White House have not done their fundamental jobs of keeping the government open.”
In a survey of 1,500 union members, about 85 percent said they have limited holiday season spending or are planning to do so because of uncertainty about income, Reardon said on Christmas Eve.
One employee responded, “I can’t buy any Christmas presents and am considering returning those I already have. Mortgage companies and utility companies won’t wait to get paid,” according to Reardon.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association issued a statement Monday condemning the shutdown for causing instability for thousands of workers.
"The air traffic controllers and traffic management coordinators that NATCA represents remain on the job, dedicated to the safety of every flight, but they don't know when they will receive their next paycheck," the statement said.
Because of them, Craig and Priya Stiller were able to fly with their toddler from the Washington, D.C., area to Atlanta on Christmas Day to see family in Alpharetta. The boy napped in his mother’s arms while Priya’s mother and sister hugged everybody one at a time. And Terry Twyman made his flight from Norfolk, Va., to spend the holiday with his girlfriend, Samantha Robinson. The two kissed in the airport then left hand-in-hand.
Both Robinson and Twyman are in the Army Reserves, so they know about the effects of a shutdown and the sacrifice it often requires.
“As a federal employee, we realize that our jobs are more than jobs,” Robinson said. “They are a service to the people.”
Trump tried to place blame for Washington’s budget stalemate solely on Democrats, portraying their leaders as disingenuous, and claiming they support the notion of a physical barrier along the border and object to building the wall only because it is Trump’s idea.
Even as he vowed to keep the government closed to secure wall funding, Trump claimed much of his envisioned wall was already being built. He said he had awarded a contract "at a great price" for a 115-mile section of wall in Texas and plans to visit the site in January for "a ground-breaking" ceremony.
Administration officials have provided no details about the project or the terms of the contract.
Trump said he hopes to have all of the wall completed - either old fencing renovated or new construction - by Election Day 2020.
Trump said Tuesday the wall as he envisions it would be a barrier that no average human could breach.
“Now there may be the case of an Olympic champion who can get over the wall, but for the most part you are not able to do it,” he said. “Very high. It’s gonna be 30 feet. Much of it is 30 feet high. Some if it’s low. But in some areas we have it as high as 30 feet. That’s like a three-story building.”
Trump said of the government shutdown, “It’s a disgrace, what’s happening in our country. But other than that, I wish everybody a very Merry Christmas.”
Jenkins is getting married Saturday, government shutdown or no, and his bride will be returning to Hawaii with him in 2019. The two hadn’t seen each other since their engagement weekend in October, and they held each other tightly in the airport. Gardner never let go of her sign.
Jenkins’ mother, Lisa, recorded the reunion on her cell phone until she couldn’t stand it anymore. She wanted hugs and kisses, too. Lisa Jenkins also noticed that these types of greetings seemed to be happening all around her as people reconnected with loved ones on Christmas.
“They’re all hugging and kissing and loving,” she said. “They’re all headed somewhere to be happy.”
The federal workers, Lisa Jenkins said, deserve credit for helping ensure these connections happened even with the government shut down.
“They’re uniting families, friends and communities together,” she said.
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