“It feels terrible.” Federal worker’s family tightens their belts as shutdown drags on

Photo caption: FDA Lab 3407 on February 5, 2009 in Irvine, CA – An unidentified FDA microbiologist working in a biosafety laboratory tests for high risk pathogens in food. Photo credit: US Food and Drug Administration photo by Michael J. Ermarth via Flickr. US government work. Article by Jennifer Ludden. NPR – October 12, 2025.

In a way, Stephanie Rogers started preparing for the current moment months ago, when she and her two daughters moved in with her mother about half an hour south of Denver. High prices for everything was certainly one reason. “When you added up the numbers between both of our family households, it was going to be something that we could not keep going long term,” says Rogers, who’s 44 and divorced with no child support. […]

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