Shutdown

 Roll Call  - One federal employee has taken out a bank loan. Another says she’s planning to seek help from a food pantry. A third says his family will likely need to take out loans, or incur credit card debt, to get by. Those stories and more were detailed in court filings this week in a lawsuit challenging the legality of Trump administration efforts to lay off federal employees connected to the partial government shutdown.

Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California already has issued a temporary ruling blocking the government from laying off an array of federal workers during the government shutdown.

The employee declarations were filed as labor groups, which brought the federal lawsuit, ask the court for a more permanent block that will last while the case is pending.

They contain examples of the searing toll of the shutdown and the termination notices, outlining deep worries about their ability to pay expenses and alarm over what would happen if they lose their health care. More