© 2026 ABC News

Sec. Ross, you're welcome to come to my district to see the harm of missing paychecks https://t.co/Y5ub3QLIdW

— Rep. Susie Lee (@RepSusieLee) January 24, 2019

\"Anybody who’s at the top of the food chain is totally tone-deaf,' Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin told reporters Thursday. \"If that’s where they are, they’ve been out of touch with reality for that long, because I can tell you, I’ve been all over West Virginia. People are hurting.\"

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer admonished Ross from the Senate floor Thursday morning.

\"Those comments are appalling, and reveal the administration’s callous indifference towards the federal workers it’s treating as pawns,\" Schumer said. \"Secretary Ross’ comments are the 21st century equivalent of 'let them eat cake.'\"

Even Republicans swiftly panned Ross' comments.

\"I can't relate to the Secretary's comments because I have been hearing directly from Alaskans and non-Alaskans,\" GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told reporters Thursday. \"I have been hearing them tell me what it's like to be a proud member of a Coast Guard family ... that is proud to serve. And to know that they have to go the food bank in order to get necessary food to tide them over until the next time they get paid ... I hear very directly.\"

\"They have Wilbur Ross saying he 'doesn't understand why' when he was asked about people going to food lines and pantries,\" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in remarks at her daily news conference. \"He doesn't understand why they have to do that. Is this a ‘let them eat cake’ kind of attitude or ‘call your father for money?’\"

Trump appeared to misinterpret Pelosi's comments as he later tweeted attacking Pelosi, suggesting she was referring to the border wall and not the comments by Ross.

Nancy just said she “just doesn’t understand why?” Very simply, without a Wall it all doesn’t work. Our Country has a chance to greatly reduce Crime, Human Trafficking, Gangs and Drugs. Should have been done for decades. We will not Cave!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2019

In the same interview, Ross also downplayed the effect on the broader economy from the estimated 800,000 workers not receiving pay.

“You're talking about 800,000 workers,” Ross said. “And while I feel sorry for the individuals that have hardship cases, 800,000 workers if they never got their pay -- which is not the case, they will eventually get it, but if they never got it, you're talking about a third of a percent on our GDP [Gross Domestic Product] so it's not like it's a gigantic number overall.”

\"PHOTO:
AFP/Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: Lara Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, Oct. 22, 2018.
>

The comments come one day after President Donald Trump's daughter-in-law and campaign adviser, Lara Trump, faced criticism for her own comments regarding government workers.

“This is so much bigger than any one person,\" Lara Trump said. \"It is a little bit of pain, but it's going to be for the future of our country, and their children and their grandchildren and generations after them will thank them for their sacrifice right now.”

The president himself was criticized early on in the shutdown when he was similarly pressed on whether he could sympathize with workers who have to go without pay as he continued to demand Congress fund his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

\"I can relate,\" Trump said. \"I'm sure the people that are on the receiving end will make adjustments. They always do. People understand what's going on. Many of those people that won't be receiving a paycheck, many of those people agree 100 percent with what I'm doing.\"

Late Thursday, asked by reporters about the Ross comments, Trump said, “Wilbur could have said it a little better.”

ABC News' Mariam Khan and Jordyn Phelps contributed to this report.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-commerce-secretary-wilbur-ross-understand-federal-workers/story?id=60595988","legacySlug":"/news/story/trump-commerce-secretary-wilbur-ross-understand-federal-workers-60595988","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"19:21","publishDate":"01-24-2019","updatedTime":"23:46","updatedDate":"01-24-2019","socialImage":{"alt":"Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross speaks at an event in National Harbor, Md., June 22, 2018.","credit":"Win McNamee/Getty Images, FILE","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/wilbur-ross-gty-jc-190124_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"1/24/2019 19:21:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":60595988,"headline":"Commerce chief downplays shutdown effects","mediaAssetTitle":"MALLIN_WILBUR_ROSS_FURLOUGHED_WORKERS_190124","description":"Wilbur Ross also criticized air traffic controllers who have called out sick. ","duration":"2:44","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/01/190124_gma_bruce_0701_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["60190507","60119434","60591841"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"January 6, 2019","headline":"President Donald Trump says he 'can relate' to federal workers going without pay","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/latest-stalemate-president-congressional-democrats-funding-border-security-60190507","id":60190507,"image":{"alt":"President Donald Trump says he 'can relate' to federal workers going without pay","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/trump-1-rt-er-190106_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Joshua Roberts/Reuters","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"January 2, 2019","headline":"Trump says shutdown will continue for 'as long as it takes' to secure border ","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/president-trump-prepared-continue-shutdown-long-takes-60119434","id":60119434,"image":{"alt":"Trump says shutdown will continue for 'as long as it takes' to secure border ","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/trump-gty-er-190102_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"video","date":"January 24, 2019","headline":"Trump agrees to postpone State of the Union amid shutdown","section":"news","slug":"/video/60591841","id":60591841,"image":{"alt":"Trump agrees to postpone State of the Union amid shutdown","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/190124_gma_bruce3_hpMain_1x1_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Commerce chief downplays shutdown effects","description":"Wilbur Ross also criticized air traffic controllers who have called out sick. ","duration":"2:44","uploadDate":"01-24-2019","publication":"01-24-2019","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/01/190124_gma_bruce_0701_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/01/190124_gma_bruce_0701_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/trump-commerce-secretary-wilbur-ross-understand-federal-workers-60595988"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132281378","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132283010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132273278","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132231169","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132206748","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132200241","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131912713","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131830583","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131834976","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554815","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131543053","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131432442","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131121474","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131247079","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131228784","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131178806","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:news:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"news","title":"Commerce chief downplays shutdown effects","pubTime":"14:21","pubDate":"01-24-2019","modTime":"18:46","modDate":"01-24-2019","taxonomyTags":"none","id":60595988,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Commerce chief downplays shutdown effects","mediaAssetTitle":"MALLIN_WILBUR_ROSS_FURLOUGHED_WORKERS_190124","videoId":60595988,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/news/story/trump-commerce-secretary-wilbur-ross-understand-federal-workers-60595988"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/60595988","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/60595988","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};