(NECN: Alysha Palumbo) - Essential government employees are still on the job, including air traffic controllers, border patrol agents and most food inspectors, but many other government employees are being told not to come to work and they're wondering how they'll get by without a paycheck.
At the Pease Air National Guard Base in the New Hampshire seacoast, where almost half the workers are facing that unhappy prospect.
Unfortunately, furlough notices were hand delivered to members of the New Hampshire National Guard Base throughout the day Tuesday. In all, 332 Army and Air Force technicians have basically been told to not come into work. Now, 128 of those members work at Pease Air National Guard Base. That’s more than one third of the total workforce of 360 here at Pease. Many of these same military technicians were previously furloughed under the sequester, meaning once again they have to go without pay. The difference this time is there’s no end in sight and these men and women could be out of work for an undetermined amount of time. The commander of the New Hampshire National Guard, Maj. Gen. William Reddel, says this government shutdown is hitting his members very hard.
He says they’re worried about morale and it would be great to have them back.
The Pease Air National Guard Base has not been shut down itself. It remains a 24/7 operation, but what’s going on now is what has been deemed critical missions by the DOD. Reddel says it’s a fine line between who has been deemed essential and non-essential by the DOD and he’s hoping to talk with them to try to get more of those furloughed workers deemed essential and get them, essentially, back to work.
