Air travelers may not have noticed any changes for travel on Tuesday. But at O'Hare, some off-duty air traffic controllers shared leaflets about the government shutdown that requires some workers, like themselves, to keep working without pay.
"It's terrible, coming into work and not getting anything from it. Overall, your mood would be pretty upset," said traveler Jason Guerrero.
"When you miss that paycheck, if you can think of options, you're really doing financial gymnastics. So, it's hard to think about people not getting paid," said traveler James Miller.
SEE ALSO | Impacts of government shutdown continue, next vote scheduled for Tuesday night
The union representing air traffic controllers said members just got their pay checks that were short due to the shutdown, and that their next paychecks will be zero unless the government is back in business.
"Now, it's starting to get real for them. They are worried about paying the mortgage car payments paying for daycare is a huge one," said NATCA Regional Vice President for the Great Lakes Drew MacQueen.
"It's going to be a struggle," said Air Traffic Controller Matt Ellington.
Ellington has been an air traffic controller at O'Hare since 2008 and is a facility representative for the union. He says he has been through a government shutdown before. And he says even though they should get back pay once the shutdown ends, it is no help now.
"Alright, the mortgage is covered right now, but what are we going to do about next month, depending on how long to shut down goes for? What are you going to do? I don't know. I don't know. We'll see," Ellington said.
Those ABC7 spoke with are eager to for the shutdown to end for their sake and the sake of their families.
Mayor Brandon Johnson issued a statement on Tuesday, saying, "I instructed the Chicago Department of Aviation to decline the request by DHS to play a political video at our airports. The video shows DHS Secretary Kristi Noem making political assertions about the ongoing government shutdown. Our airports are for Chicagoans and visitors to travel safely to and from our city; they are not for the Trump administration to spread propaganda using taxpayer resources."