A group of Rio Grande Valley residents joined their voices on Wednesday to a nationwide protest about the federal budget.
President Barack Obama is calling on congressional leaders to work with his administration on a bi-partisan plan for funding the government through the end of the budget year.
The U.S. Senate today sent the president a stop gap bill that trims four billion dollars from the budget but only funds the government for another two weeks.
The white house says Obama will sign the bill.
The president is also calling on congressional leaders to negotiate a longer-term budget.
But Obama is not the only person looking for a long-term solution to the budget.
So are federal employees across the nation, including some from the Valley took to the streets today to make their voices heard to avoid a federal government shutdown.
A group of protestors outside McAllen’s Social Security Office spokes to Action 4 News.
"It's a little scary for all of us,” protestor Norma Peña said. “Sometimes it's unbelievable. I've never seen it this drastic."
In Elvia Duarte's 19 years as a government employee, she never thought it would come to this.
Duarte and dozens of her colleagues are picking up signs and protesting the possible furloughs and shut down of government offices.
"How do you pay mortgage, car payments, insurance and food for a month,” Duarte said. “You go back to work and it'll be two weeks before you get paid. Then you have to catch up on what you can't pay. It will be very hard."
Duarte said she understands there will have to be budget cuts---but there is no reason government workers should have to go without being paid.
"We have an overtime budget and we can do without that,” she said. “There are a number of things we can cut out without anyone having to suffer without pay."
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