PORTLAND, Maine — By the end of the day Friday, federal workers who went weeks without pay during the government shutdown will finally get the money they deserve.
"Every morning we'd wake up during the shutdown time frame and we're just kind of hoping that that would be the day that he would get paid and things would go back to normal, and every day it wasn't,” Lindsay Scott said.
Scott, a wife of a member of the U.S. Coast Guard based in Kittery, first spoke with NEWS CENTER Maine five weeks ago when they were just starting to feel the impact of the shutdown.
Her husband received his back pay this week, but Scott said she and her family are still acting as if the government is still shut down and being careful with their money.
"We're happy obviously that the government is back open, but we're being cautiously optimistic,” Scott said.
Bill Reilly, a TSA officer at the Portland Jetport, said he received the first of two back payments this week.
"I was really happy. now I can get my bills back on track,” Bill Reilly said.
Reilly is also vice president of the local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees.
He was one of the dozens of people who protested outside of Sen. Susan Collins office in Bangor during the shutdown.
He said many federal employees, including those at the Jetport, are not quick to celebrate just yet.
As Democrats and Republicans continue to spar over border security and “the wall,” funding is set to run out on February 15—meaning the government could shut down again.
“At the very least we could join them in an act of solidarity,” Democratic Rep. Jared Golden said.
Golden introduce bipartisan legislation to withhold pay to members of Congress, the president, and vice president during future government shutdowns.
"Good leaders should take care of other people before stopping to think about themselves,” Golden said in a floor speech this week.
Gold spoke first to NEWS CENTER Maine following that announcement.
He responded to critics who say his move comes after he failed to give up his own pay during the shutdown.
Golden’s predecessor Republican Bruce Poliquin notably donated his paycheck to charity during government shutdowns.
"To donate your pay to charity is a great thing. I'm not sure how that makes a federal employees whole,” Golden said. “They are the ones that are suffering and going through the inconvenience, and so my bill is really about saying we're going to share in that inconvenience at the very least."
With that “inconvenience” likely to happen again, Scott and Reilly said they are focusing on the positive.
Both of them received generous help from local food pantries, businesses and complete strangers.
“Maine people always step up, and they stepped up big time this time,” Reilly said. “It's probably one of the only reasons that we go through day to day."
"I'm incredibly grateful because that is how we put dinner on the table every night,” Scott said.
Click here for more on what Congressman Golden had to say in his interview.