‘It hurts’: Government shutdown could force Crete woman out of her home

CRETE, Neb. (KLKN) — A Crete woman is feeling the effects of the government shutdown as she awaits a $1,700 check.

Mishelle Kortus said without the payment, she’s worried she could lose her home.

“I was working two jobs for a reason,” she said. “And when one is gone, it hurts.”

Kortus used to work for the U.S. Census Bureau. She gathered data for jobs reports and statistics on health and crime.

But she decided to hand in her resignation and apply for a different job last month.

“I could tell that we were headed for a shutdown, and even if it lasted two weeks, that’s a paycheck that I wouldn’t be getting,” she said.

Kortus worked from her home office just outside of Crete, but she traveled often for work.

When she did that, she paid for her own flights, hotels and other expenses up front.

She planned it out so she would get her final paycheck before the shutdown would go into effect.

So it took her by surprise when she didn’t get a $1,700 reimbursement check for a five-day work trip she took in mid-September.

“When you travel, the rule is that they are supposed to have you paid back within 10 days,” Kortus said.

But travel reimbursements got pushed back to the end of October because it’s the end of the fiscal year.

And now that the government is shut down and employees aren’t being paid, there’s no telling how long it could be before Kortus receives her $1,700 check.

“Our house payment, it was due on the first, and it’s late on the 16th,” she said. “And I haven’t told them yet, but I don’t think they’re going to get it on time.”

She’s worried she’ll lose her family’s home because of this shutdown.

Kortus has already started a new job, but she won’t get her first paycheck in time.

She’s disappointed in Nebraska’s representatives – and Congress as a whole – for letting people suffer over this.

“I understand the reasoning for it,” she said. “But to me, it doesn’t really seem like anybody is doing anything about it.”