TSA officer in Arizona dealing with government shutdown impact

PHOENIX (NBC, KYMA) - TSA officers have gone more than 35 days without pay and reality has set in for many of them, including one in Phoenix.

Martina Santana has been a TSA officer for four years and it's a job she's proud of.

"You know, everybody wants to work for a federal government job because it's stable and steady, it's good money, it's a good job," Santana shared.

But that stability has become shaky as the government shutdown is now the longest in U.S. history, meaning for the past 36 days, this single mom of three has gone without a paycheck.

"All of us were like that first couple weeks, and we're saying, 'Okay, first two weeks, we're gonna, you know, we can, we can do that. You know, we can do that. We got somebody saved up. We can do that.' The second paycheck that we didn't get? I think that's when it started hitting me," Santana detailed.

She lives paycheck to paycheck, and has had to pull money out of her Thrift Savings Plan, a retirement plan for federal employees.

However, Santana received an eviction notice last week.

"I normally pay half my rent with one check, pay my car my other bills with the other one, and then I paid catch up on the third month. It's always like every third month, I have to split it up. And this month I gave him the letter that we were supposed to give. And nobody, not one of my bill collectors, not one of my my car payment, not on one of my anything, except that it can do anything for me."

Martina Santana, TSA officer

She's talking about this letter from the Department of Homeland Security asking organizations to give federal employees grace.

"They do have a job fair at the airport every fourth of the month. I picked up an application for another job. Because I'm telling this, I really don't know what I'm going to do next month," Santana expressed.

As she navigates these hardships, she's still showing up for work, even working overtime, as some of her colleagues struggle to.

"They're coming to the point where if I'm not feeling good, I'm not coming in. If I don't have gas, I'm not coming to work," Santana remarked.

Air traffic controllers are also not being paid right now, and when there's a shortage of controllers at airports, it leads to flights being delayed.

Santana is trying to maintain a positive attitude for herself, her coworkers and her kids, hoping the shutdown ends soon, but committed to keeping travelers safe in the meantime, asking travelers to be patient.

"Just come with a good heart. Be patient, and because we're trying, you know, we're trying to do our job, we're trying to keep it light and and get you guys through, but we still have to do our job, and with the less people, I mean, it's going to take a little bit longer," Santana spoke.

On Sunday, senators on Capitol Hill struck a tentative deal to reopen the government as eight Democrats teamed up with Republicans, giving the GOP the 60 votes they needed for the procedural motion to pass in the Senate.

However, the bill will have to pass through the House and be signed by President Donald Trump. The process is expected to take days.