Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross “says he does not understand why federal employees who are furloughed or have been working without pay during the partial government shutdown would need assistance from food banks,” Roll Call reports.
“Several credit unions serving workers at federal departments and agencies have been offering stopgap loans, as they have during previous shutdowns. But it’s not clear how those loans would even be sufficient as the shutdown enters its second month.”
Said Ross: “I know they are, and I don’t really quite understand why. Because, as I mentioned before, the obligations that they would undertake, say borrowing from a bank or a credit union are in effect federally guaranteed.”

