KOJO NNAMDIYou're tuned in to The Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU 88.5. Welcome, later in the broadcast New Year, New Me or so the saying goes, but how many people actually stick to their New Year's workout regimen. Plus D.C.'s exercise scene gets a bad rap for cost prohibitive gyms and homogeneous classes. So who really fits into Washington's workout culture.

KOJO NNAMDIBut first, a good part of the Washington region was already at a standstill and now on day 24 of the partial government shutdown a winter storm has brought activity in the Capital to a grinding halt. Federal workers have missed their first paychecks. At least 7,000 have applied for unemployment compensation and now five anonymous federal employees are suing the Trump administration for what they say amounts to involuntary servitude.

KOJO NNAMDIJoining me to discuss the local effects of the government shutdown and the weekend's winter storm, Patrick Madden is WAMU's investigative reporter. Patrick, good to see you.

PATRICK MADDENGood to see you, Kojo.

NNAMDIAnd, of course, it's not a snowstorm in Washington unless it's got a nickname. So, this one is snurlough. I guess a combination of snow and furlough.

MADDENBut where does, I mean, this name must rank. I mean, snowpocalypse I get, but snurlough?

NNAMDIYeah, I'm having trouble.

MADDENIt doesn't have the same ring.

NNAMDII'm having a little trouble with it too. But, you know, if it's over five inches it's going to have a nickname in Washington. So let's talk about snurlough. What's been the effect of the weekend storm coming on top of the government shutdown?

MADDENWell, I mean, I guess if D.C. was already sort of shutdown in a sense, because of this partial government shut down, I mean, having this snowstorm, which was, I guess, a lot more powerful than we anticipated, means, I mean, all the schools are closed. The local governments are closed. Federal government is closed. So everything is just basically shutdown today.

NNAMDIPatrick, do we know, who is removing snow from federal areas?

MADDENSo it's my understanding that the national park service is taking care of snow removal on federal land. So the feds are still cleaning up their snow. The D.C. hasn't stepped in yet like they did with some of the trash that was surrounding the parks.

NNAMDIOkay. This is now the longest running government shutdown in U.S. history. What are you hearing from federal employees, who have just missed their first paychecks?

MADDENJust a lot of tales of financial stress, of folks anxious about when this is going to end, people feeling demoralized about not being able to do the jobs they want to do. I mean, by one number there are a quarter of a million federal workers and contractors in this D.C. region, a quarter of a million people who are not getting paid right now, who are missing paychecks. So that is just an incredible number of people that are having to face really difficult circumstances.

MADDENI visited an unemployment office in D.C. and I spoke with several folks who are contractors, people that work as cafeteria workers, janitors, low wage contracting jobs and they're not going to get any back pay when this is all over. And I also spoke with, you know, federal workers, federal employees, who are in the same position in terms of, you know, maybe they're living paycheck to paycheck and now are facing this situation.

MADDENBut at least for federal workers there's, you know, in all likelihood, they will get reimbursed.

NNAMDIWe got an email from Adriana who says, "When communicating to the public how the federal workers are suffering, because of the partial shutdown, please, always include the federal contractors as well," which Patrick just did, of course, "As contractors we will not receive retroactive pay, so it's essential to include us. One of the most powerful countries in the world is behaving like a third world country. Shame on both republicans and democrats," says Adriana. You reported last week that at least 7,000 government workers have applied for unemployment compensation. Have you seen those numbers -- are you seeing those numbers go up?

MADDENThey will go up. And they'll probably go up dramatically. So of that 7,000, 5,000 was from D.C. Another 1,000 from -- and the rest were basically Maryland and Virginia. Those numbers are going to go up dramatically in terms of people seeking unemployment just because as this stretches on from one paycheck to more paychecks, if this goes on and on for weeks, people are going to need help.

NNAMDIAnd speaking of contractors, Elizabeth says that there are as many as 4.1 million contractors, who work for the federal government who obviously will not be guaranteed back pay after the shutdown ended. So what is the cost of the shutdown in terms of like productivity, lost wages, that kind of thing?

MADDENSo there's one cost -- one estimate put out by the federal government which pegged this partial shutdown at $50 million a day in terms of sort of direct, you know, these Federal government employees, who have been furloughed or -- you know, that's 50 million. Now there's another estimate which takes into account sort of the broader economic damage that this shutdown is doing and that's from Stephen Fuller, who is this well-known regional economist -- I believe he's at George Mason, he's put it at $120 million a day.

MADDENWhen you take into all of the costs associated. You know, the businesses that are losing revenue, the contractors. So this is going to have a significant -- or could have a significant impact if it stretches on for a long time. On the other hand he says, "This is still a very healthy regional economy." I mean, we just had Amazon, you know, decide to put part of its headquarters here. So it's, you know, back and forth. But there's no question if this stretches on, it's going to have a big impact.

NNAMDIGlad you say if this stretches on because have we heard anything new about the possibility of government reopening?

MADDENAs far as I know, I don't think so. I mean, it sounds like both sides have sort of dug in their heels. I mean, there was talk earlier about, you know, perhaps President Trump could declare a national emergency. And that could provide a sort of off ramp for this crisis. Senator Lindsey Graham has sort of brought up this idea of, you know, giving like a 30 days to declare that window, but right now it doesn't seem like there's any end in sight.

MADDENNow when I spoke with several members of Congress from this region, I asked them, "You know, how does this thing end?" And they said, "When there's enough sort of public outcry. When people just start holding rallies essentially, that's when I think the pressure will build." But, again, this isn't just happening in D.C. The impact on federal workers and contractors is happening all over the country. And so I guess the hope is that when enough pressure builds, when there's enough outcry that something will change.

NNAMDIWhat's happening with this lawsuit, one of many being pursued by federal workers against the Trump Administration? But which likely -- but which accuse the -- both the administration and the government are violating the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude after the Civil War?

MADDENRight. So this is one of several lawsuits that have been filed against this shutdown to try to end the shutdown on behalf of federal workers. You know, this one talks about the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. The plaintiffs argue that they basically have been coerced into coming in to work without pay, because they're among these, you know, so called essential or, you know, folks. Like you hear about the TSA people that are having to work, because they perform, you know, important duties, but they are not getting paid.

MADDENAnd there's other lawsuits. One of the major unions representing federal workers also brought a lawsuit, basically different argument talking about how the saw says employees must be paid in timely fashion. That's not happening right now obviously with people missing paychecks. And interestingly that lawsuit was also brought in the 2013 shutdown and they won that lawsuit. And they had the same judge this time. So the thinking is that that suit has a good chance potentially of winning while the other one you mentioned is probably more of a long shot.

NNAMDIHere's Laura in Washington D.C. Laura, you are on the air. Go ahead, please.

LAURAHi. I'm retired and I live in Washington D.C. for many years now, but I grew up in the Soviet Union. And I got my education there, very good education by the way. And we walked to school in any weather. And schools were closed only when it was lower than minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit. But here I am amazed that like a little bit of snow and everybody's closed. How come? We're yelling to the whole world that we're the best country in the world and we're so afraid of the weather?

NNAMDIYou asked how come? Because that's the way we roll. That's it. That's the only possible answer I can give, because any snowstorm with more than three inches -- sometimes we had a one inch snowfall, was to cripple the Washington region.

MADDENAnd there were like cars left on the George Washington highway.

NNAMDIExactly, you never know. But there is a silver lining in this, Laura, because until the snowstorm over the weekend, commutes had been a breeze. Major commuting roads had been traffic free. Metro cars haven't been crowded in the morning, but that comes at a cost too. Patrick, what would this mean for Metro and the systems bottom line?

MADDENWell, obviously less people riding, less people are paying into the system, which is not a good thing. Especially for Metro which is having issues in terms of sustaining itself. So if you are looking for a -- you want to have your whole row to yourself to read, you know, today was a good day for that. But, again, as you said, Kojo, for the bottom line of Metro this is not a good thing when people aren't on the system.

NNAMDIA reminder that we're collecting your stories, How has the shutdown affected you? Send us a voice memo, no more than 30 seconds to kojo@wamu.org with the subject line, shutdown. That's kojo@wamu.org voice memo no more than 30 seconds with the subject line, shutdown. Patrick Madden, thank you for joining us.

MADDENThank you, Kojo.

NNAMDIWe're going to take a short break. When we come back, we'll be talking about people and their workout regimen and the gyms they use to workout. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.