Minnesota lawmakers seek government shutdown remedies in Washington, D.C.

Thousands of federal workers are about to miss a second paycheck as the partial government shutdown is now at day 26.

The President isn’t talking with congressional leaders, but he is talking with a bipartisan group of House lawmakers called the “Problem Solvers Caucus.”

The group includes new Third District Congressman Dean Phillips.

They met with the President today at the White House in a meeting Press Secretary Sarah Sanders called constructive.

“They listened to one another and now both have a good understanding of what the other wants,” she said.

On its 26th day, Congress and the President have reached an impasse on funding for the President’s proposed border wall with Mexico.

As a result, thousands of federal workers are days away from missing another paycheck.

In Washington, D.C., celebrity chef Jose Andres has opened “Chefs for Feds” meals to feed furloughed workers and their families.

33 Democratic Senators, including Minnesota’s Tina Smith, sent a letter to the office of Management and Budget Wednesday, urging the government to pay back low and middle-income contractors now out of work.

The letter said, “Contractor employees cannot afford the chaos and uncertainty of government shutdowns.”

Smith also authored a bill Wednesday forcing the backpay of those employees.

“Well, we’re making a clear statement that federal workers and American citizens and people who are contracted to do work for the federal government shouldn’t be used as pawns in this shutdown battle and they ought to be made whole and get the backpay that they need for their lives to work,” she told FOX 9.

Smith says those contractors were caught in the shutdown against their will and she believes there needs to be legislation to force the government to make them whole.

This story was reported from Minnesota.