DETROIT — Three weeks may be a lifetime for Washington politicos, but for Americans whose livelihoods rely on the federal government it’s an alarmingly short amount of time before their financial stability could be upended.

Already contending with high inflation and rising interest rates, they now are bracing for the prospect of economic calamity if the White House and congressional Republicans don’t agree on a path to keep the U.S. from defaulting on its debt by the end of the month.

Shannon Galloway, a Gold Star mother of three biological teenagers and two foster children, relies solely on benefits she has received from the government since her husband died in June 2009.

The payments were delayed in December when her oldest son turned 18 and the benefits were moved to his name. Her family is waiting on tens of thousands of dollars in overdue payments, she said, and having an indefinite delay caused by a debt default would be “detrimental” to her family.

“I know politics can be messy,” Galloway said. “But at the same time, this isn’t just politics to us. This is our family. This is our daily life.

“I do work every day, but I don’t have a job outside of the home,” she added. “So those benefits literally are how we pay our mortgage, how we pay our utilities, how we pay daily cost of living — gas and groceries and just everything.”

Barring a deal, the Treasury Department would need to figure out how to pay tens of billions of dollars in debt and funding obligations as the government’s cash balance dwindles.

About $12 billion in military benefits are set to be disbursed on June 1, and $25 billion in Social Security payments are due the next day, according to a new analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank. There’s no precedent for the Treasury Department’s needing to prioritize its payments in the case of a default.

Dave Allen runs a food pantry in southwest Detroit that gets about one-third of its funds from a program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If the FEMA money doesn't come through, it would affect more than just Allen. Last month alone his food pantry served 717 people, he said, or roughly 125 households.

His message to Washington: “It’s better to resolve this issue.”

Otherwise, he said, “I would see a huge amount of people who are hungry and not getting their needs met. It’s hard to imagine that.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen estimated last week that the government will reach its borrowing limit on June 1 and would default on debt the U.S. has already incurred unless, before then, the House and the Senate pass legislation to raise the debt limit and President Joe Biden signs it into law.

Biden has said Congress should increase the debt limit without strings attached, stressing it is lawmakers’ constitutional duty. White House officials have argued that Republicans would be to blame if the U.S. defaults, but congressional Republicans have pushed back, saying they’ll only accept budget cuts in exchange for lifting the debt limit. House Republicans have passed legislation to do just that, but it’s opposed by congressional Democrats and the White House.

Ursel Mayo, the president of Gold Star Mothers of Macomb County, lost her daughter in 2008. She made it clear that the debt ceiling negotiations would drive families to the ballot box in the next election.

“Gold Star families want Congress to know if you toy with our benefits, our checks, we will remember you at the ballot box in 17 months,” Mayo said. “How many legislators can go indefinitely without their checks?”

Galloway said that she supports Biden but that if the government defaults, she would hold him responsible.

Still, she’s hopeful it doesn’t get to that point.

“I try not to think about it too much. Because I’m like, ‘Well, it’s worked out in the past,’” Galloway said. “But this one feels a little different. This one feels a little bit more severe or scary.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com