VALDOSTA – The federal government has been partially shut down for 32 days, 17 hours, four minutes and 59 seconds, the longest in history.

With President Trump in a stare-down with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, local federal employees, specifically Valdosta Regional Airport Transportation Security Administration employees, are facing an uncertain future.

Melissa Roberts, a TSA agent who transferred here in August 2018 at the Valdosta Regional Airport, is more concerned about her fellow co-workers than herself. As a military reservist and in Valdosta on active duty, she is more stable. Her husband is stationed at Moody and though they have a cushion, Roberts admits that she’s having to watch her account closely to make sure she’s got enough to do what she normally does.

Other employees, of which there are approximately 20 TSA employed in Valdosta, are making it “check-to-check,” as Roberts put it.

“Everybody is worried about getting their paychecks,” Roberts added. “They’re not worried about the political stuff..”

Some of the employees have split shifts and are having serious issues with buying gas.

Marene Chavis is one of these. A widow, she has been a TSA agent for about a year and has enjoyed working at the Valdosta Regional Airport. She lives about 15 minutes away.

“I work a split shift, 10-12, then 2:30-4:30 p.m.,” she said. “With the gap being so short I sit in my car at the airport of run some errands if I have something to do in the area.”

One of her four sons was murdered last year on April 5 in Waycross and there’s a trial coming soon for his killer. She doesn’t want to find another job because working as a TSA at the Valdosta Regional Airport has benefited her needing time to handle the serious issues surrounding his death. They’ve been supportive.

But it’s getting critical.

“You don’t want to go (find another job),” Chavis said, “but I don’t really have a choice because I don’t really know what’s going to happen. If this happens again, I don’t  know what I’d do.”

Chavis has called her mortgage company and they say they’ll probably work for her, to call them February 1 when the payment is due. “I don’t like that,” she says. “I keep up my bills. You have to have good credit to even work for TSA.”

When she called Georgia Power, they said not to worry, they’d “double it up,” to which she half-chuckled and said, “Well, that’s not going to be great either. I don’t like to get behind.”

Her car insurance company, Progressive, isn’t working with her yet either, and she’s just thankful she doesn’t have a car payment.

Since there are no definitive dates of the government opening, there are still hundreds of thousands of federal employees working without pay.

Chavis is quickly approaching the second unpaid pay period, as she gets paid bi-weekly.

“Not knowing is the worst part,” Chavis said. “I’m not a last minute type of person.”

Her single credit card through Walmart is fine, she said. She called and they assured her that they would waive the minimum payments while she was not getting paid. “They made me feel so good,” she said. “They understood and were so helpful.”

SNAP/EBT benefits are being made available to federal employees, so that will cut down on her mother making her up lunch packs when she goes by to see her. Those won’t be issued for up to 10 days, however.

And Mama June’s opened up to feed them for free, so Marene had to smile over that, even laughed. “Yea, that’s wonderful,” she said.

But that’s a far enough drive that she has to account for that, too. Luckily, her friend filled up her car with gas once.

Chavis gets a little comic relief at times, going onto the Facebook support group “TSA Breakroom.”

But she and her fellow TSA agents are struggling, some more than others.

Although Chavis and her fellow TSAs will get back-pay once the government restarts, there’s no way to know when that will be.

“At first it wasn’t so bad because it wasn’t so bad,” Chavis said. “As long as the military gets paid I’ll be alright. My mother asked, ‘Marene, are you okay,’ and I said, ‘I lost my child last year I don’t care about being broke.’ But it’s been going on so long now, I don’t want to get behind, I’ve never been like that.”

Originally, the Valdosta Regional Airport stated they were not being affected since the air traffic control in the tower is operated by a private company, radar approach for the airport is handled by Moody, and the TSA screeners were showing up.

But enough time has passed that they are making decisions like, do I pay my bills, or not have gas?

Nationally, TSA agents have quit their jobs because of no pay, according to Hydrick Thomas, president of the TSA Council at the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing these federal workers.

If you or an organization, church, business, would like to contribute to these struggling TSA agents, please call TSA supervisors Jeff Smith or Shannon Shockley at the Valdosta Regional Airport TSA office, 229-242-3628.