(Radio Iowa) – A leader in the union that represents 19-thousand federal employees who work in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas says some of them will be required to work, without pay, if there’s a federal government shutdown. Ruark Hotopp is a national vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees. “TSA employees would still go to work during a shutdown, however,” Hotopp says, “without a paycheck.” Hotopp joined an online news conference organized by the Iowa Democratic Party.

“In our union, we had many discussions with a lot of federal lawmakers up on Capitol Hill,” Hotopp says. “The indication we had as of a month ago was that there was going to be a deal struck amongst House Republicans to avert this, only for them to then renege on that deal and to come back and hold us all hostage with the threat of a shutdown.” Hotopp says a shutdown would bring the country to a screeching halt.

“I don’t know that folks really realize how many government agencies really exist and what they all do,” Hotopp says. “…We run the full gamut of law enforcement agencies, agriculture — you name it.” Some U-S-D-A employees are represented by Hotopp’s union, but the U-S-D-A would shut down — with the exception of critical functions, like fire fighters in the U-S Forest Service who protect property.