Employees at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Mendota are apart of those considered essential, and must keep working.
"A lot of our staff live paycheck to paycheck, so grocery stores don't take 'I owe yous', babysitters don't take 'I owe yous', and you can't put hopes and dreams in your gas tank to get to and from work," said Aaron McGlothin with the American Federation of Government Employees for FCI Mendota.
Back in 2018, during President Trump's first term, those same workers were subjected to a record 35-day shutdown.
"Our staff, they put their lives on the line every single day dealing with these offenders. Going to work with these already stressful times, it's just an extra stressor that we don't need," he added.
The deadlock centers around a political fight: Republicans want to pass a short-term continuing resolution, while Democrats say they won't vote for that unless there are changes to Medicaid cuts and extensions to healthcare subsidies.
"Republicans started with a clean CR, so we didn't put anything in it that should be controversial. It was the continuation of existing appropriations that was started under the Biden administration, so I don't know what we have to give," Republican congressman David Valadao said.
"It will result, if we do not do this, in millions of Americans losing their health care coverage. That's why we're withholding our support," Democratic congressman Jim Costa explained. "I think we're left with no alternative but to ask the administration and our Republican colleagues to negotiate on these two critical items."
The next vote won't come until Friday at the earliest, as Senators are out for Yom Kippur.
While hundreds of thousands of employees are going without pay during the shutdown, lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue to get paid their nearly $174,000 salaries.
"I challenge them to come and grab a set of keys and work in our prison with these offenders, and see what it's like to not only put your life on the line every day, but do it without getting a paycheck, knowing that you've got to put food on your table for your family," McGlothin stated.
Some lawmakers will continue to get paid through the shut down, though some like Jim Costa will refuse or donate their pay.
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