During the last federal government shutdown, back in 2018, Maria Reyes could not work at her custodial job at the U.S. Department of Labor in downtown D.C. for 35 days, forcing her to give up the room she was renting and move in with her son.

As the prospect of another government shutdown approaches — the third in the past decade — Reyes is once again very worried about how she’ll afford her rent and expenses, she tells DCist/WAMU. She needs that $1,200 check that’s supposed to arrive on Oct. 6 to survive. Her brother in El Salvador also relies on her paychecks. She sends him money to pay for medicine to manage his kidney disease.

“Everyone is going to be affected if the government shuts down,” Reyes says in Spanish. “I don’t understand why they want to shut it down again. The last time it happened, it was crisis.”

As far-right Congressional Republicans hold the government spending bill hostage, millions of federal employees and contractors across the country are bracing for a stoppage in pay. Some employees deemed essential will work without pay and many more will be furloughed. But unlike people who are directly employed by the federal government, contractors are not guaranteed to get back pay once the shutdown ends.

The federal government relies heavily on contractors; by one estimate, there are roughly three contract employees for every federal employee. In the District and surrounding suburbs, thousands of these contractors are low-wage workers who keep Congress and federal agencies fed, cleaned, and safe at the office. Many of these workers are deeply concerned about what a shutdown will mean for them and their families, given the hardship they faced just five years ago.

“For a lot of these workers, going a day without pay is the difference between putting food on the table and paying the bills,” says Jaime Contreras, the executive vice president of SEIU 32BJ, which represents 2,400 federally-contracted janitors and security officers. “Congress needs to really practice common sense and not put workers through this.”

Nearly half of the union’s members were furloughed during the last government shutdown, according to Contreras. Some of them lost their homes like Reyes did; Contreras says; others could not pay other bills or purchase food for themselves and their families, he says.

Theresa Flores, who’s been cleaning the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Independence Avenue SW for 21 years, is afraid that will be her.

Going even a week without pay would greatly impact her life because she is the breadwinner in her household. Her husband, who’s 71, is retired. During the last shutdown, her direct employer, Repaintex, paid her even though she was not working — but so far, the company has not told her or her colleagues if they’ll be doing the same this time. (Repaintex did not return calls seeking comment.)

The uncertainty has riddled Flores with anxiety. She needs her October paychecks to keep up with her monthly mortgage payments for her Capitol Heights home. Flores is now trying to save money in case the government shuts down, but it’s hard.

“We live paycheck to paycheck,” Flores tells DCist/WAMU in Spanish.

Approximately 700 food service workers for the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, federal agencies and the Smithsonian are also expected to be furloughed, according to Marlene Patrick-Cooper, president of UNITE HERE Local 23, which represents these workers. She says none of her members got back pay during the last government shutdown. The union gave members gift cards so they were able to enjoy the holidays.

Patrick-Cooper says food service workers are in a worse position now than in 2018, given that they are still recovering from lost wages during the last government shutdown and the COVID-19 pandemic. The union did recently secure a higher minimum wage for some of their food service workers, but Patrick-Cooper says the wage minimum of $20 per hour is a “drop in the bucket” given the city’s high cost of living. D.C.’s living wage is $22.15 for childless adults, according to MIT.

Congressional efforts to secure back pay through appropriations legislation for low-wage federal contractors who lost income during the last government shutdown ultimately failed. D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton wrote to the Biden Administration in May, urging the White House to examine the “legal authority it possesses to ensure that low-wage contract workers receive back pay” in the event of another shutdown. The Biden administration did not respond to their letter, director of communications Sharon Eliza Nichols tells DCist/WAMU.

Companies that contract with the federal government are also at a loss on how to proceed. Virginia Rep. Don Beyer shared a note on X, formerly known as Twitter, from one small business owner whose contracts have been paused due to the looming shutdown: “Up to this point, I have chosen to pay our employees that are not able to work,” the owner wrote to Beyer, who represents Northern Virginia counties where many federal employees and contractors reside. “I am now at a decision point. Do I borrow more money or do I lay off my hard-working employees. With no end in sight I struggle with what to do.”

Reyes says her employer, Integrity National Corporation, told her and her colleagues they are going to try to offer employees some work during the shutdown if it happens, but Reyes does not expect to be scheduled enough to make ends meet. (Integrity National Corporation did not respond to request for comment.) She anticipates having to find another job, which is what she did last time. She found informal work, cleaning houses for a flat rate. She recalls cleaning three houses for a total of $150.

Contreras says some companies spread essential work across their workforce to give their employees some paid shifts. He appreciates these efforts but says they are “unsustainable.” He’s also concerned that federal lawmakers will only fund the government for a few weeks, meaning workers will have to worry about this yet again. A Senate funding bill that just passed would fund the government until Nov. 17.

“If it doesn’t happen now, it’s going to happen around Thanksgiving. And if not, it’s going to ruin Christmas for these workers,” Contreras tells DCist/WAMU. “It doesn’t make sense, and we need to figure out a way to govern better.”