WASHINGTON–Two of the credit unions that serve the staff of members of Congress and other workers on Capitol Hill are starting to receive requests for financial assistance and/or relief as the government shutdown enters its fifth week.
United States Senate Federal Credit Union’s Hart Building branch has seen approximately 700 people as of late last week who have applied for an up to $5,000 loan from the credit union since the government shut down, according to Roll Call.
“Everybody’s in the same boat,” one member told the publication. “Everybody’s about to be struggling.”
Arthur Green, a spokesperson for USSFCU, told Roll Call, “We’ve had to put notices on our website to please make an appointment, and we have one on our website right now: ‘Please be patient with the loan process,’ because we have so many backlogged applications coming in. So, it’s been crazy.”
Spike in Membership Apps
Meanwhile, Congressional Federal Credit Union, which primarily serves employees of the House of Representatives, has also seen its own spike in new member applications, according to Roll Call.
CFCU is offering a $10,000 line of credit available for a 60-day draw period with 0% interest. After that, monthly payments include 4 percent interest for the next three years, Roll Call reported.
Roll Call said that while Congressional Federal declined to share numbers on program enrollment, spokesman Brian Holloway said that starting in mid-September the credit union began fielding hundreds of new member applications in anticipation of a government shutdown.
“Once Oct. 1 came, there was another group of individuals that said, ‘OK, let me go ahead and join and be prepared to take advantage,’” Holloway told Roll Call. “And we’ll probably potentially see another surge of individuals coming in here.”
US Senate FCU, which also offers a loan at 0% for 90 days, after which the payment is due in full, has begun “phase 2 planning,” or what to do if the government shutdown continues past those 90 days, according to Green, Roll Call reported.
More Workers Affected
As Roll Call reported, the current shutdown has left more federal workers unpaid compared previous shutdowns. Federal employees have received back pay in the past after shutdowns, and Congress passed a law in 2019 that aimed to guarantee it, Roll Call reported. “Now the White House has floated the idea of not paying furloughed workers despite that law.”
