Deepan Patel was one of a number of U. S. government workers waiting in line for a meal on Friday at celebrity chef Jose Andres’ “Chefs for Feds” emergency kitchen, when he heard President Donald Trump had agreed to end a 35-day-old partial government shutdown.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Deepan Patel was one of a number of U. S. government workers waiting in line for a meal on Friday at celebrity chef Jose Andres’ “Chefs for Feds” emergency kitchen, when he heard President Donald Trump had agreed to end a 35-day-old partial government shutdown.
Like many of the 800,000 furloughed workers across America, Patel, who works for the Internal Revenue Service, expressed both relief and uncertainty about whether the three-week agreement to fund the government would last beyond Feb. 15.
“I think it’s a big help, especially to get that back pay, get those paychecks,” Patel said. “And hopefully they make a deal before it shuts down again.”
The stop-gap funding agreement sets up tough talks between the president and lawmakers about how to address security along the U. S.-Mexican border, with Democrats appearing unyielding in their opposition to Trump’s desire to build a wall, a central promise of the Republican’s 2016 election campaign.
