Stephen Colbert digs into the human costs of the government shutdown. Jimmy Kimmel tries to help.

Stephen Colbert counts the costs of the government shutdown

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

published 8 January 2019

The ongoing partial government shutdown is causing problems across the U.S., including trash and human waste piling up at national parks. On Monday's Late Show, Yogi Bear had a solution for Jellystone Park, and it may be replicable in the real world.

There's also a human toll for the 800,000 federal employees being furloughed or forced to work without pay, noted Stephen Colbert. "Turns out, people don't want to go to work when they're not getting paid," including TSA agents. "The president does have some sympathy for the plight of unpaid federal workers," Colbert deadpanned, showing video of Trump saying unpaid workers "will make adjustments."

"I agree, adjustments must be made — starting in November of 2020," Colbert said. He was skeptical of Trump's claim that these unpaid federal workers support his quixotic quest to build a wall, but he noted that the White House has at least offered succor to struggling federal employees, advising them to barter their skills in lieu of rent. "You know things are bad when the government is advising federal workers to use the same strategies you see in porn," Colbert said, explaining what he meant.

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This is "Donald Trump doing what Donald Trump does best: Not paying the people who work for him — that is where he shines," Jimmy Kimmel said on Kimmel Live. "It's unfortunate that these people, these workers who have nothing to do with this ridiculous wall, aren't getting paychecks, especially right after the holidays. So I wanted to do our part to pitch in, and so tonight and every night until the shutdown is over, we're going to put a federal employee to work here at the show." He started with a prison guard, and you can watch that below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.