Trump admin suggests federal employees paint landlords' properties during shutdown to afford rent

The Trump administration has a suggestion for federal employees worried about not being able to afford rent thanks to the government shutdown: work odd jobs for your landlord in exchange for rent.

While almost 800,000 government employees are impacted by the the president’s government shutdown, the Office of Personnel Management sent out a document with recommended three cover letter templates.

These three cover letters—which are addressed to creditors, mortgage companies, and landlords—are intended to help employees affected by the shutdown to explain their financial situation and ask for assistance, lenciency, or extended time to make payments.

The most baffling, however, is what was suggested in the cover letter meant to address the landlords of furloughed employees.

“I would like to discuss with you the possibility of trading my services to perform maintenance (e.g. painting, carpentry work) in exchange for partial rent payments,” the cover letter read.

This enraged former White House officials, and social media users, online.

“Furloughed workers are advised to ask landlords about “the possibility of trading services to perform maintenance (e.g. painting, carpentry work) in exchange for partial rent payments,” Chris Lu, former Deputy Secretary of Labour under the Obama administration, posted on Twitter. “The US govt is the world’s most powerful organisation. This is what it’s been reduced to.”

“This is pathetic,” a former US government employee tweeted. “ I’ve been through a few of these shutdowns in my past career. This hurts every affected federal worker, regardless of their GS-level.”

But a Twitter user pointed out the obvious.

“Just pay the workers, man,” they tweeted. “By the way, why is the senate, the house and [Donald] Trump getting pay.”

Others are dumbfounded with the OPM’s suggestion that furloughed employees should consult with their personal employees for legal advice.

“If you see this tone-deaf tweet and actually need a lawyer, the words you want to google are “LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION” and “[your location],” one social media user tweeted. “LSC provides free civil (as opposed to criminal) counsel to folks in need. There’s at least one office in every congressional district.”

It’s incredibly expensive to have personal attorneys on retainers, which is highly unlikely to be affordable to a furloughed employee on a government salary.

“The notion that the average government employee, now working without pay, has a personal attorney is the absurdity I was trying to highlight,” another tweeted.

“’Personal attorney?’” one posted on Twitter. “Sure thing, I’ll just dip into my vast personal fortune.”

President Trump enacted a government shutdown when he could not reach a deal with Congress to fund his border wall on the US-Mexico Border -with $5 billion. Earlier this month, in response to concerns for furloughed employees, the president tweeted that “most of the people not getting paid are Democrats.”