What does a govt. shutdown mean for KY? Food stamps, paychecks, national parks affected

With Congress barreling toward its funding deadline and no solution in sight, it appears increasingly likely the federal government will shut down effective at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

Essential government functions will continue: Social Security checks will go out, doctors and hospitals will receive reimbursements from Medicaid and Medicare and the troops will remain at their posts, albeit unpaid while the shutdown continues.

The U.S. Postal Service won’t be interrupted, given it’s generally self-funded, generating sales from its products and services.

But the shutdown will affect federal employees across the country, including some 22,000 such workers in Kentucky.

According to Dustin Pugel, the policy director at the left-leaning Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, a government shutdown will also hurt the most vulnerable Kentuckians.

“Shutting down the federal government always hurts the most vulnerable Americans the most because programs like SNAP, which provides food assistance to more than half a million Kentuckians, and WIC, which ensures a third of Kentucky’s babies get formula, are among the first to run out of money,” Pugel told the Herald-Leader in a statement Wednesday.

When it comes to federal workers, Pugel added, “Kentucky is also home to tens of thousands of federal workers and tens of thousands more active duty military personnel, who would stop getting paid. The ripples of a shutdown would slow an already difficult and complex Medicaid renewals process and get in the way of hundreds of federally-funded infrastructure projects across Kentucky. Holding such a critical part of our society and economy hostage over an unrelated political fight is senseless and cruel.”

Other Kentucky advocates have also raised alarm over potential interruptions to food service programs, and Medicaid renewals remain fraught following changes brought by the end of the federal emergency declaration for COVID-19 in May.

Here’s what we know about how a potential government shutdown would affect Kentucky.

Kentucky military families might miss their paychecks

Should the government shut down, U.S. service members and other military personnel deemed essential would still work but without pay.

“A shutdown would be detrimental for the department,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said earlier this week. “Troops would go without pay. Military families would be impacted, of course. For folks that are not getting paychecks, that impacts how and when [they] can buy groceries, child care, all of these things. … So, we are still ... we’re hoping that Congress can reach a deal to avert a shutdown. But we are planning for that or taking steps to plan for that, should a shutdown occur.”

As of Friday afternoon, it remains unclear how many personnel at Fort Knox, one of two military bases in Kentucky, might be affected by the imminent shutdown.

Reached by phone Friday, the base’s media relations officer Kyle Hodges said he did not know how many might be furloughed and how many workers would have to continue showing up for their shifts. Hodges declined to give an estimate.

U.S. Department of Defense figures indicate Fort Knox has a daytime population of more than 26,000 soldiers, military family members, civilians and contractors. At Fort Campbell, Kentucky’s other major military installation, there are more than 27,000 soldiers.

What will happen to Kentucky’s national parks and forests?

Friday, the U.S. Department of Interior announced that should a government shutdown occur, National Park Service sites will close.

“This means that the majority of national parks will be closed completely to public access. Areas that, by their nature, are physically accessible to the public will face significantly reduced visitor services,” the Interior Department’s announcement reads.

Gates will be locked, visitor centers closed and thousands of park rangers will be furloughed, the department said. In the event of a shutdown, it asked the public not to visit NPS sites to protect natural and cultural resources and visitor safety.

At Mammoth Cave National Park, one of Kentucky’s most visited NPS sites, spokesperson Molly Schroer told the Herald-Leader when reached by phone Friday morning the park did not have any immediate contingency plans in place. She referred further comment to the NPS.

“We remain hopeful that a lapse in government funding will not occur,” a NPS spokesperson wrote in an emailed response to the Herald-Leader Friday.

“Should there be a funding lapse, access and visitor services would be available Sunday, Oct. 1. Beginning Monday, Oct. 2, all national parks would close and visitors should expect services to be unavailable,” the NPS spokesperson continued.

“Individual parks are reviewing the NPS contingency plan and working to determine more specifics on a park by park basis,” the NPS spokesperson wrote, adding more specific information was not immediately available.

This story may be updated.

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