Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross doesn't 'quite understand why' unpaid federal workers need food banks and homeless shelters

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
(Image credit: Screenshot/CNBC on Twitter)

About 800,000 federal employees haven't been paid in a month. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross thinks a loan could solve their problems.

If the government shutdown doesn't end by Friday, federal employees will have lost close to $6 billion total in wages. They've been told to barter and sell their belongings to make ends meet and, when that doesn't work, have been forced to head to food banks and homeless shelters.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.