President Donald Trump announced from the White House Friday that he’s made a tentative deal with congress to re-open the government and end the shutdown.
When the news broke, anxious travelers at Bradley International Airport followed developments.
Johanna Bond, a bartender at Cask & Barrel Bistro at the airport, has friends who are Transportation Security Administration officers. They visit her and have meals at the bar during the shutdown, they worked without pay.
For their sake, Bond is relieved.
“It does directly impact people that I care about so any news about that is good news,” Bond said.
Bond watched the president’s address on a monitor behind the bar. Kevin Cahill, her customer, also watched. But he wasn’t happy with the outcome.
“I was hoping to see that they reached some kind of deal where they’re going to build a wall and the Democrats will get what they want and it could be an opportunity for both parties to save face and get something done for the American people,” Cahill said. “But, I don’t see that happening.”
Kim Earle wasn’t at the bistro but he was close by – sitting on a couch near the check-in gate before he went home to Alabama.
“My wife is a government employee and we’re glad that it’s ending – it’s a long time coming – but we are really excited that it’s going to end,” Earle said.
Earle said his wife works for the Department of the Treasury and is doing that without pay during the shutdown.
President Trump confirmed during the speech that federal employees will have their pay restored.
Senator Richard Blumenthal happened to be waiting at the check-in gate moments after Trump spoke. He was in a hurry – heading down to Washington D.C. to work on a bill to open the government with his colleagues.
“I’m very hopeful we will end the shutdown because we do need to re-open the government and there is now hope that all of these efforts will finally produce re-opening the government,” Blumenthal said. “We can do border security but we need to end the shutdown.”
