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Blank cheques...hundreds of thousands of US gov't workers miss first payday of partial shutdown

Published:Saturday | January 12, 2019 | 4:18 PM
A screenshot of the pay slip of a US government employee showing the one cent salary he received yesterday

Hundreds of thousands of government workers in the United States (US) yesterday missed their first salary payment of the year.

This comes as the partial government shutdown today became the longest in American history, according to political historians.

The shutdown began last month and is in its 22nd day.

About a quarter of the federal government is out of operation until a spending plan is agreed, leaving 800,000 employees unpaid.

Employees such as prison guards, airport staff and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have been working without pay and yesterday some shared their blank pay slips on social media.

Oscar Murillo, an aerospace engineer, posted his $0 cheque on Twitter.

Murillo and said he had actually lost money because of mandatory deductions.

Another Twitter user, Cat Heifner, shared what she said was her brother's pay slip, showing he had been paid one cent for his work as an air traffic controller.

US President Donald Trump has refused to approve a federal budget unless it includes US$5 billion in funding for a wall along the American border with Mexico.

Democrats have, however, rejected the request.

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