There's At Least One Government Employee Guaranteed A Paycheck During A Shutdown

When it comes to this partial government shutdown, which has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without income, President Trump doesn't really appear to be stressing. He won't budge from his demand of $5 billion-plus dollars for the construction of a wall along the southern U.S. border, and he's threatened to keep the government closed for as long as it takes to get it. With that, you might be wondering whether the president gets paid during a government shutdown, because this doesn't seem like expected behavior for someone with dwindling income.

Though there are a reported 800,000 people who didn't get their paychecks on Friday, Jan. 11, members of Congress and the president will continued to be paid during the shutdown. According to USA Today, their salaries are written into the Constitution and aren't funded by annual appropriations, which means that they're totally in the clear whenever the government shuts down. Life just isn't fair some times.

But it's worth pointing out that in 2016, Trump vowed that he wouldn't accept his salary, so he actually might not be getting paid. Instead, he's reportedly donated his presidential earnings to the National Park Service, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) efforts to combat the opioid crisis, and more. The billionaire business mogul reportedly continues to cash in on his various ventures, so it's not like he's in need of the $400,000 salary paid to presidents. Elite Daily reached out to the White House for comment on the matter, but did not immediately hear back.

Friday, Jan. 11 marked the first day that federal workers haven't received a paycheck since the government shut down — which will become the longest in U.S. history on Jan. 12 if no resolution is reached, according to CNN. With no income in the foreseeable future, people have started protesting in front of the White House, calling on Congress and the president to reach an agreement on border security, which would allow them to get back to work, per The Washington Post.

Amid the outcry, Trump said on Jan. 6 that he can "relate" to the workers and that he believes they will make proper adjustments to survive the shutdown. “People understand exactly what’s going on,” Trump added, per People. “But many of those people that won’t be receiving a paycheck, many of those people agree 100 percent with what I’m doing.” The White House did not immediately respond to questions regarding the source for this belief.

For now, it's unclear when this matter will be resolved. Democrats have repeatedly said they aren't coughing up more than $1.3 billion for border fencing and barriers. In attempts to circumvent Congress, Trump has reportedly been considering pulling funds from disaster aid and declaring a national emergency, but nothing is set in stone just yet. Elite Daily reached out to the White House for any additional comment on the subjects, but did not hear back.

Let's cross our fingers and hope that in another two weeks, this will be resolved and federal workers will have a paycheck to cash.