SAN DIEGO, California – When Vice President JD Vance touches down at Camp Pendleton this weekend to mark the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps, he’ll arrive in a region showing signs of strain from the government shutdown — including at food pantries where federal workers are quietly seeking help.
Thanks to the intervention of President Donald Trump, military personnel will continue receiving pay during the shutdown, at least temporarily. But the surrounding San Diego County is home to thousands of people who have been furloughed or are working without pay during a budget impasse entering a third week with no end in sight.
At a food pantry south of downtown San Diego, a Transportation Security Administration officer said she got her final paycheck last week, and won’t be able to hold out much longer.
“I think we can handle one more pay period,” said the woman, who held the hand of her 3-year-old daughter as she walked to her car with a donated bag of groceries. “If it goes more than another paycheck, that’s when it’s going to hurt my family.”
A fellow TSA worker had arrived moments earlier at the same pantry, collecting a $50 gas card along with food for his wife and five kids. Like his colleague, he’s hoping the shutdown ends soon. “People do have to pay rent and the landlords, you know, they’re not going to be waiting,” he said.
The two, both of whom were granted anonymity out of concern for workplace repercussions for speaking publicly about the shutdown, are the initial wave of what’s likely to become a surge in frustration and demand for help among the federal workforce’s rank-and-file, as many typically middle-class workers go without pay amid the impasse in Congress. Their needs will strain an already struggling non-profit sector contending with budget cuts and inflation, while adding pressure to both parties in Washington to reach a resolution.
San Diego County has one of the largest concentrations of military personnel and civilian government workers in the country, and Vance knows the region. His wife, Usha, grew up in the area. When the couple visited the city in July, people gathered outside the Michelin-starred sushi restaurant where they were dining to jeer and boo as the couple exited.
On this trip, Vance, a former Marine, is scheduled to observe amphibious assault training at Camp Pendleton, and the vice president’s office has not announced plans for any stops off base. But he did add to the uncertain climate for public-sector employees by warning that there could be deeper cuts to the workforce if the shutdown grinds on longer.
“The longer this goes on, the deeper the cuts are going to be,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News. “To be clear, some of these cuts are going to be painful. This is not a situation that we relish. This is not something that we’re looking forward to, but the Democrats have dealt us a pretty difficult set of cards.”
Democrats who represent the area in Congress told reporters Wednesday they’ve been hearing from worried constituents about the loss of pay, as well as steep hikes in health insurance due to the looming loss of subsidies that the party is seeking to restore as a condition of a budget deal with the Republican majority.
“It’s great that the military is getting paid for this paycheck. We don’t know what will happen if this shutdown goes on until the end of the month for the next paycheck for them,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs. “And there’s many, many federal workers who are working without pay or who are furloughed and who have a lot of stress and anxiety.”
Even without further cuts, pain is starting to ripple across the San Diego region.
The San Diego Food Bank, which said it was already providing emergency food assistance to 40,000 active duty military members, veterans and their dependents before the shutdown, has begun building up supplies to meet expected demand if the situation is prolonged like the 2018-19 lockout that lasted for 35 days.
The county also has about 50,000 federal civilian workers and is among the country’s most expensive places to live – making conditions particularly precarious, said Casey Castillo, CEO of the San Diego Food Bank.
“Believe me, families will be at risk,” Castillo said.
For some people used to a steady paycheck, it will be an adjustment to find themselves in need of help, said Brenda Trejo, whose organization, Operation Promise Community Services, has set up a separate pick-up site for government workers in a vacant office, away from the rest of their clients. “We’re here to help,” she said. “It’s hard when you don’t understand how you are going to feed your kids the next day.”
Turnout at the Operation Promise site for government workers in National City, an industrial area south of downtown San Diego, was modest on Tuesday. But Trejo expected more in the coming days, as people learn about the pantry from media coverage, social media posts and word of mouth. An event last week for public sector employees run by Jewish Family Service, also in partnership with the San Diego Food Bank, provided food aid to 72 families.
Bobby Orozco Jr., president of TSA Local 1260, which represents about 2,300 of the agency’s employees in Southern California, said workers in private social media groups have been exchanging tips on where to find food pantries or what stores are offering bargains.
Some transportation security officers, who make an average of about $70,000 per year, are still paying off loans they took out during the last shutdown, he said, and Trump’s threat to withhold back pay from some federal employees has added further anxiety to an already stressed workforce.
“When you hear, you know, the president saying those things it doesn’t instill hope in people at a time when fear is paramount,” he said, while en route to a shift at Los Angeles International Airport. “Hearing that they may not even get paid just doubles down on the fears they already had.”
That was about as far as he or others wanted to get when it comes to politics. The TSA worker with the 1-year-old said the issue of blame for the shutdown didn’t really matter to her. She has worked for TSA for a year.
“I just want it to end,” she said, “and for them to do whatever they need to do to end it.”
