Politicians in Congress failed to work out a funding deal Monday, resulting in a shutdown of the federal government for the first time since 1995.
Parts of the government remain in operation, including the military, various offices connected to life/safety issues and offices that receive money from sources other than funding that would have come from the deal. The closed parts have furloughed many of their workers, sending them home without pay until funding can be had.
Congress is required to pass an appropriations bill each year to fund government operations. If that bill is not in place by Oct. 1, then most government operations have no funding and are required by law to shut down.
“The normal situation is that when Congress hasn’t finished passing the appropriations bill, they pass a continuing resolution to keep government going until they finish the appropriations bill,” said College of William and Mary Professor of Government John Gilmour. “What’s happening is that the Republicans who control the House [of Representatives] are trying to use the possibility of shutting down the government as a way of defunding the [Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare].”
Gilmour said much of the funding that flows from the federal government to state governments is in the form of Medicare and grants in education and transportation. Though Medicare funding won’t be disturbed by the shutdown, grant disbursement in the state could be interrupted, resulting in a potential loss of funding — if the date a grant was scheduled to be disbursed during the shutdown and that date passed, it is not clear if that money would be retroactively awarded or if the state would lose that funding for good.
The last government shutdown came in 1995. That shutdown lasted for 21 days. Then-President Bill Clinton saw his approval ratings decline, but the approval rating for Congress fell more, Gilmour said.
“If it goes on very long, it’s likely to provoke a recession,” Gilmour said.
Effects on Colonial National Historical Park
Much of the workforce of the National Park Service has been furloughed as a the result of the shutdown. Though park officials who operate in a law enforcement capacity — including those who patrol the Colonial Parkway, much of which will remain open — are on the job, more than 21,000 of the 24,645 NPS employees have been furloughed.
The Colonial Parkway is closed from Route 199 at Kings Point to the Jamestown Island, which has also closed. The rest of the parkway is open. All other side roads, such as the battlefield tour roads, are closed.
Day visitors to Colonial National Historical Park are instructed to leave the park. The Yorktown Visitor Center and the Jamestowne Visitor’s Center are both closed. The Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center are state-funded operations, so they are still open.
“Staffing will be held to the very minimum for the protection of life, property, and public health and safety,” reads an NPS memo detailing the shutdown. “Only personnel absolutely required to support these activities will remain on duty.”
Concessioners in the park are also closed, as NPS has been instructed to close all government-owned buildings. These businesses include the Yorktown branch of the Carrot Tree and other concessioners operating out of NPS-owned buildings, said Becky Eggleston, the management assistant at CNHP.
Effects on Military
The shutdown has sent many civilian employees of the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station home on furlough. Civilian employees not affected by the shutdown include fire, security, port operations and ordinance handling, according to Yorktown Naval Weapons Station Spokesperson Mark Piggott.
“A government shutdown would place significant additional hardships on our workforce which has already been strained by recent administrative furloughs,” Piggott said.
Military personnel continue to report to work as normal.
Fort Eustis Spokesperson Sameria D. Zavala said the base has about 3,500 Department of Defense civilian employees and about 1,000 Reserve component members. All of those employees have been furloughed except the minimum number required to accomplish activities essential to national security and safety.
President Barack Obama (D) signed the “Pay Our Military Act” into law late Monday, guaranteeing pay for members of the military during the shutdown. The White House’s webpage said the act will also provide compensation for federal contractors who perform “active service during such period, and for civilian personnel and contractors of the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security (in the case of the Coast Guard) whom the respective secretaries determine are providing support to members of the Armed Forces.”
Effects on Entitlement Programs
Many of the entitlement programs offered by the federal government are funded through the Social Security Administration, meaning they will continue to operate as normal for at least a month after the shutdown began. These include:
- Social Security benefits, though secondary functions such as card services and benefit verifications have ceased
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- Supplemental Security Income
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — which is overseen by the Department of Agriculture — will continue operations through October as that funding comes from a mechanism other than the appropriations bill. No additional funds would be available for the SNAP program for Women, Infants and Children clinical services, food benefits and administrative costs.
The Child Nutrition programs, such as school lunch, breakfast, child and adult care feeding and special milk will continue through October. Meal providers are paid on a reimbursement basis following the end of the service month. No additional federal funds are available for the Emergency Food Assistance Program or the Farmers’ Markets Nutrition Program.
Programs from the Department of Health and Human Services, such as Temporary Care for Needy Families, Child Welfare Services and Community Service Block Grant Programs will not receive their quarterly grants that keep them funded. Furthermore, programs like Head Start will not receive funding.
Effects on Other Government Agencies
Employees from the Transportation Security Administration who screen travelers at the Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport remain in place as do members of the Federal Air Marshal Service.
Air traffic controllers from the Federal Aviation Administration also remain on the job. Like TSA screening jobs, air traffic controllers are considered exempt due to the life and safety elements of their jobs.
The National Weather Service, which maintains an office in Wakefield, continues to provide weather, water, climate and air quality forecasts and warnings.
The U.S. Postal Service is an independently funded organization and is not affected by the shutdown.
Virginia Politicians Speak Out
Rep. Rob Wittman (R-1st District) issued a statement Monday before the shutdown went into effect.
“I hear on a daily basis from constituents about the problems they are having, the expense of insurance premiums, the higher deductibles, the issues they are having to deal with,” said Wittman, who voted in favor of the bill that approved an appropriations bill that defunded the Affordable Care Act. “I think we need to continue to have that debate, but I also believe we should continue to fund the government.”
Sen. Mark Warner (D) issued a statement late Monday blasting the House Republicans.
“It is disappointing the House majority is prepared to shut down the federal government in its continuing ideological opposition to the Affordable Care Act,” Warner said in the statement. “This is not a responsible way to conduct our nation’s business. It threatens the economic recovery. It also is not fair to target the federal workforce to bear the brunt of this dysfunction. The Senate has now sent a clean interim spending measure to the House twice – a measure which already reflects compromise between the Senate and House spending plans. The House leadership should allow members to cast an up-or-down vote.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D) also issued a statement Monday.
“I have now twice voted for a clean spending bill that would keep the government funded through November 15,” Kaine said. “The spending bill is a compromise – accepting the House’s budget number rather than the Senate spending target. The choice is once again in the hands of House Republicans – accept our compromise offer that’s been on the table since last week to avert a government shutdown, or keep using the threat of shutdown to make an ideological point over health care.”
