Thousands of air traffic controls and TSA agents across the Lonestar state are starting to feel scared at the daunting idea of a government shutdown.
Sandra Felix is the president of the North Texas TSA Union, Local 1040. Felix said she and her union members are anxious and doing what they can to prepare.
"I'm having to have a strategy for how I'm going to pay some things and getting ready to contact my creditors," said Felix. "And hoping if it does go into a shutdown, it doesn't go long."
Felix has been a TSA employee for the last 15 years, meaning she's experienced this before.
"I remember a colleague who couldn't get any help and he was out of his insulin medication and that was scary for him to know should he just go to the hospital or not," said Felix. "Cause he didn't have money to go even buy over the counter insulin."
She said currently her union members are making plans with spouses, partners, or in Felix's case, her older children to make sure they have money for rent or other essential needs if their checks stop.
"I told my son who is 19, I said, 'baby I might need you to make sure that when you get paid next week,' cause he works for gas station QT, I said 'I'm going to need you to be smart with the money in case I need money for the light bill or if we need some groceries,'" said Felix.
She shared that the last time she experienced this she had to go to the UnitedWay food bank set up at DFW three times in order to keep her and her children fed.
While they won't have pay to keep them motivated to come to work she said it's their love for what they do that will keep them showing up during a government shutdown.
"Coming to work is actually a good thing because we're fulfilling the mission, we're fulfilling our purpose of helping people, that's how a lot of us are able to make it into the job," said Felix. "Knowing that we're committed to executing the mission of the TSA and that is to protect people and to allow people to travel freely, and doing so safely. And that's what pushes a lot of us to it and probably many of us can do it because we have some little financial help."
Felix also pointed out that it can be an issue for her and other members to rely on credit during this as it can take a long time to recover from this.
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