January 28, 2019 — Monday morning 800,000 federal employees will return to work for the first time in 35 days after the longest government shutdown in history.
It all stems from the ongoing political dispute over a border wall.
On Friday a deal was struck to temporarily open the government for three weeks. Federal workers are uneasy about the future after already missing two paychecks.
For more than a month Anna Kagley has been ready to return to her job at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She’s worked at the agency for three decades.
“I’m a little nervous after missing 30 plus days,” said Kagley.
The fishery biologist who lives in Everett works with Chinook salmon and is concerned the shutdown has harmed the agencies long term work.
“I’m concerned we’ll be missing the beginning of the pulse of the fish migrating for some of our monitoring projects,” said Kagley.
The mother of five and primary bread winner for her family says she still doesn’t know when she’s get her next paycheck.