GREELEY, Colo. — Brent Langdon's yard is ready for spring long before any leaves will bud. He tended to the landscaping, bagged up leaves and cleared debris from his garden.
"I’ve been spending all my time getting the yard clean and my wife’s happy about that," Langdon said.
Anyone would be envious of the yard at Langdon's Greeley home until they heard the reason why it's so neat and clean.
“I have more time on my hands than I want right now," Langdon explained.
Langdon is longing for work. He's a federal contractor, now furloughed during the longest government shutdown in modern U.S. history.
“The Friday before Christmas was the last day I worked," he said.
Langdon said he's worked in information technology for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for more than five years.
“The contract world is not short-term," Langdon said. "All the people I work with are long-term employees. This is their job.”
Federal contractors like Langdon are in the same boat as the roughly 800,000 federal workers impacted by the shutdown. Unlike federal employees, however, contractors aren't guaranteed to be paid for the work they've missed.
“We’re very close to people starting to look elsewhere because they have to," Langdon said, speaking of his coworkers. "They have to provide for their families.”
Last week, the House and Senate voted to ensure federal workers would receive back pay after the government reopens.
On Thursday, a group of 34 Democratic senators sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget calling for low and middle-income federal contractors to receive compensation for lost wages.
Lawmakers have yet to propose legislation addressing back pay for contractors. Langdon hopes the government considers helping out contractors regardless of their income level.
“If we cannot work, we should be covered financially just like the federal employees," he said.
Langdon is fortunate he hasn't missed a paycheck yet.
“I do get paid because I’m using personal time off – paid time off because I built it up," he explained.
Langdon said he has about a week of paid vacation left and he knows newer coworkers likely have less.
“The problem with this is event was it happened a week before the end of the calendar year when most people have dwindled and used up all of their [vacation] time, so they basically had no time," Langdon said.
Langdon will spend his days finding new projects around the house and checking his phone for updates on the shutdown.
His yard no longer needs work, but Langdon does.
“My goal is that our leaders would just work together and – just do it," he said. "Get it done.”
SUGGESTED VIDEOS | Next with Kyle Clark