Milwaukee furloughed federal worker reacts to end of shutdown

MILWAUKEE, WI (CBS 58) -- Now that the partial federal government shutdown is over, local workers who were impacted are reacting to news.

You think it'd be a sense of relief for Lee Teasely to hear the longest shutdown has ended -- but that's not so. “Aggravating and frustrating,” he said. “I'm trying to find something positive that came out of all of this, and I'm not."

Teasley is an engineering technician for the Federal Aviation Administration, helping maintain its facilities.

When the government shutdown, he was furloughed.

"I was essentially told, watch the news. If the government shuts down, you don't have to report to work on Monday."

For 35-days, multiple federal agencies were closed, forcing many like Teasley to miss two paychecks. Luckily, his wife's income was able to support them, but others weren't as fortunate.

"The coworkers I have that have children, recently had children, which is a wonderful thing in their lives, and now suddenly didn't get paid immediately after Christmas for 30 days. That’s a nice present for the holidays, I guess," he said sarcastically. 

Teasley said the deal to re-open the government for three weeks brings federal workers no security.

"It's just one more continuing resolution of kicking the can on down the road. You go back to the previous shutdown and the one before that. It's always six months, half a year. It's never a budget for four years and that's ridiculous."

He's not sure the tough month they endured was worth it.

"Sacrifice without purpose. It seems like we went through all of this and I don't understand what exactly was accomplished," Teasley added.