A group of activists gathered Friday afternoon outside Sen. Rob Portman鈥檚 office to encourage him to do more to end the partial government shutdown.

Protesters carried signs and chanted outside Portman's downtown Columbus office. They want Ohio's Republican senator to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring a budget vote before the Senate.

Some 800,000 federal workers did not receive paychecks Friday because of the shutdown. One of them was TSA officer Aaron Bankston, who says federal employees just want to get paid to do their jobs, since they still need to show up to work.

鈥淲e鈥檙e out here securing America鈥檚 flying public and everything. Trying to get them together. It鈥檚 just rough for us to do it without getting paid,鈥� Bankston says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to keep a good, sane mind on that. That鈥檚 all.鈥�

Bankston is also the president of Local 615 of the American Federation of Government Employees. He says as the shutdown stretches on, federal employees are facing tough financial decisions.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just going crazy right now. The mortgage people don鈥檛 want to work with some people. Some people are getting their cars repossessed and everything,鈥� Bankston says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just going crazy. We just need to get back to work.鈥�

AFGE national organizer Hope Berndt says people take for granted the role federal employees play in everyday life.

鈥淲hen we don鈥檛 think about the clean air that we breathe, the clean water we get out of our tap water, or the food that鈥檚 inspected or the educational standards for our educational system and stuff, we take that all for granted,鈥� Berndt says.

Ohio's Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown, has in exchange for reopening the government. He says money for border security should be separate from a funding bill.

If the shutdown continues past midnight, it'll become the longest in U.S. history, passing the 21-day closure during President Bill Clinton's administration.