Some 800,000 federal workers who’ve been furloughed or forced to work without compensation will receive no paycheck today, as the partial government shutdown stretches into its 21st day with no resolution in sight. On Thursday, government employees and their unions staged rallies outside federal buildings across the U.S. This is Elaine Suriano, a furloughed EPA scientist, speaking at a protest in Washington, D.C.

Elaine Suriano: “I’ve talked to someone, and I’ve asked them if I can get a loan for a mortgage, if this doesn’t—I mean my mortgage payment, if this doesn’t end at the end of January. So, and if it continues longer, I’ll have to go into my retirement money to pay the bills. The bills keep coming; they don’t stop.”