John Anderson lost the government shutdown. It's pissing him off.

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Last edited Thu Oct 17, 2013, 12:11 PM - Edit history (5)

Ezra Klein ‏@ezraklein 17m
The government shutdown wasn’t that bad for the politicians. It was terrible for this guy. http://wapo.st/H39tls


John Anderson lost the government shutdown.

His approval rating didn't fall. No political action committee threatened to primary him. He just lost two weeks' pay, which he'll never get back, and walked right up to the edge of losing his place to live. His story is a reminder that, for all the back-patting Congress is doing today over having finally resolved the debt showdown and re-opened the government, the 16-day closure has already had real, and lasting, human consequences for hundreds of thousands of people.

"I was living week to week" before the shutdown, Anderson told me. "Now I'm living day to day."

He is a line cook at the American Indian Smithsonian Museum on the National Mall. Anderson is not a government employee. He's a contract worker - the government hires his company to make the food for visitors to the museum. When the shutdown closed the museum, Anderson lost his job. He'll now presumably be able to go back to work, but unlike federal workers, he won't get back pay. And he could use that back pay: Anderson is a divorced father of two who usually brings home about $350 a week after taxes and child support. His 16-year-old son lives with him in Washington but commutes by bus and train to high school in Maryland every day.

Anderson has no savings - his wages don't leave much cushion for savings - and struggled through the shutdown to pay his rent, put food on the table and pay for his son to travel back and forth to school. We spoke Wednesday afternoon, as a deal to end the shutdown appeared imminent in Congress. Here's his reaction to that deal, edited for length.

. . . I’m happy that we get to go back. But it’s pissing me off – they used us as pawns in this big ego game. But they didn’t even get what they wanted. It was all for nothing . . .


read the rest: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/17/the-government-shutdown-wasnt-that-bad-for-the-politicians-it-was-terrible-for-this-guy/



Jim Tankersley ‏@jimtankersley 20m
People are wonderful: a dozen readers have emailed to ask how they can help John Anderson stay afloat post-shutdown: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/17/the-government-shutdown-wasnt-that-bad-for-the-politicians-it-was-terrible-for-this-guy/ …


. . . for my hard night of work