As a DoD employee (9 deployments and counting) I have put money aside for just such occasions.
Debt paid off and several months of pay in a savings account.
Also I can retire anytime I want after 42 years of service.
Mr. President, shut em down. Most of my federal coworkers voted for Democrats, so if they hurt, I have a violin to play for them.
Feds almost always get the back pay anyway (no guarantees). Although it’s my understanding that this shutdown, if it happens, will be different than the three prior shutdowns in the last 20 years because some agencies have been already funded in this case. In the prior shutdowns all agencies were affected. This would be even more of a “partial” shutdown I believe.