Government shutdown likely. What does it mean for NC’s federal workers, services?

More than 140,000 people in North Carolina could find themselves without pay next week due to an intraparty battle among Republicans in Congress.

The country’s leaders have until the end of Saturday to figure out how to fund the government and pass a short-term spending agreement, or face a shutdown.

Failing to do so means that many active-duty military service members and federal workers would be forced to work without pay.

Other workers would find themselves furloughed.

North Carolina is home to eight military bases, including Fort Liberty, one of the world’s largest installations based on population. More than 95,900 active-duty service members work in North Carolina — the fourth-highest population in the country, according to the White House.

Also working in the state are 47,960 federal civilian employees, according to the Congressional Research Service. The two congressional districts along the state’s coastline are home to the two highest populations of federal civilian employees.

Blaming Republicans, the White House issued a statement highlighting how “servicemembers would continue working every day to keep our country safe, including our 1.3 million active-duty troops — but wouldn’t receive their paychecks until funding becomes available. Hundreds of thousands of their civilian colleagues in the Department of Defense would also be furloughed, affecting the ways in which the Department manages its affairs globally, including the vital task of recruiting new members of the military. All of this would prove to be disruptive to our national security.”

Echoing President Joe Biden’s administration were his fellow Democrats at the state level, including state Reps. Eric Ager, John Autry, Nasif Majeed, and Garland Pierce, all veterans, who detailed in a news release the impact a shutdown would have on service members and their families.

“It is a dangerous plan that puts our nation at risk and punishes our armed forces for no reason other than partisan politics,” they wrote.

The National Federation of Federal Employees, a union representing working-class federal employees, is urging Congress to pass a spending agreement without delay.

“Most federal workers live paycheck to paycheck, and they are paid at lower levels than their private sector counterparts,” the union wrote in a letter to Congress. “A shutdown for any length of time is devastating to federal workers and their families.”

With just two days of funding left, it remains unclear who will be deemed an essential worker and who might be furloughed.

But to offer a glimmer of hope for federal workers, in 2019, Congress passed a law that ensures they would receive back pay once a government shutdown ends.

Why a shutdown now?

By now, Americans have become used to the threat of a shutdown, which looms over Capitol Hill every few months but is usually stopped through last-minute negotiations.

However, the atmosphere around Capitol Hill is starkly different this time. Members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus have taken a hard stance that they won’t agree to fund the government, or even pass short-term spending bills, unless House Speaker Kevin McCarthy meets their list of demands.

On Wednesday night, lawmakers received a list of what services in the Capitol would be closed if a shutdown takes place — that includes things from food services to the Senate barber.

It’s become clear that a shutdown is likely — its length unknown.

Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House with only nine additional members over their Democratic colleagues. That gives the Freedom Caucus more power than usual.

Rep. Dan Bishop, a Republican from North Carolina, is among the hardliners. Earlier this month, he said McCarthy had agreed that the 12 appropriations bills that make up the government’s budget would be passed at certain funding levels, and House leadership was not keeping to its promises.

When McCarthy tried to bring an appropriations bill to the floor, Bishop tweeted that he voted against the measure because it didn’t match their January agreement.

“I assume leadership believes me now,” Bishop tweeted, as he explained his rationale.

Attempts in the Senate

The Senate is trying to pass its own short-term spending bill, but McCarthy has said he doesn’t see support for it in his chamber.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said he wouldn’t support the bill because it wouldn’t get support in the House.

“The bill put forward by Leader (Chuck) Schumer contains several priorities requested by Democrats but zero priorities requested by Republicans: border security funding being first and foremost to address the crisis at our southern border that President (Joe) Biden created,” Tillis said. “It makes absolutely no sense for the Senate to waste the rest of this week voting on a spending bill that is dead on arrival in the House. In fact, it guarantees a shutdown.”

He vowed only to vote on a bill viable in both chambers.

Social spending programs

N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley sent a letter to staff Tuesday saying it was becoming more likely that a government shutdown would happen.

“We know for some — but not all — federal funding will stop if this comes to pass,” Kinsley said. “That blow will be mitigated by how much money we have on hand and specific federal guidance for each program.”

During a 2013 shutdown, NCDHHS experienced both employee furloughs and a reduction in some services.

Kinsley told McClatchy that 80% of his agency’s budget comes from federal dollars and that 5,000 of his employees are paid through federal money.

The good news, Kinsley said, is that DHHS had been prudent about its budget so programs like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children could continue several months during a shutdown.

The bigger concern, he said, is what happens to child care programs.

The White House has said that if the government shut down, 10,000 children nationwide would immediately lose access to Head Start, a federally funded early-childhood program for low-income families.

And by Wednesday afternoon, Kinsley told The N&O he had heard that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or welfare, may sunset on Saturday. He was still seeking clarification for what that meant for existing and new beneficiaries, saying he had received minimal guidance from the federal government.

Also top of mind for Kinsley: the impact for his own staff. He warned them in his letter that a furlough could come abruptly.

“As we face the potential federal shutdown our top priority is to mitigate the impacts on those we serve and to protect you — our staff — as much as we’re able,” Kinsley wrote.

Shutdown impact on universities

Universities are also prepping for a federal shutdown.

Kelly Dockham, director of federal affairs for UNC-Chapel Hill, told university trustees at a committee meeting Wednesday that the university will likely not experience many adverse impacts during a shutdown — unless it were to last for several months.

Even with the longest-ever shutdown, which lasted 34 days, the direct impact to the university “was very minimal,” Dockham said, showing that it “can weather this temporary storm.”

Federal student aid has already been dispersed and would not be impacted by a shutdown, but federally funded research at the university — including efforts funded by the National Institutes of Health, which is the “top funder” for UNC’s federal research enterprise — could be impacted if federal agencies close their payment management systems or issue stop-work orders to their faculty contractors, Dockham said.

During previous shutdowns, the NIH has left those systems open, Dockham said, which has allowed the university to “still be able to draw down funds to support research personnel and grant activities.”

If faculty are paid through a contract with a federal agency and the agency issues stop-work orders, the university has funds and other resources available to “float” those employees until the shutdown ends, Dockham said.

If the shutdown were to last beyond one or two months, Dockham said, the university “would have to take a deeper look” at how to continue supporting those faculty.

“Assuming it doesn’t go on for six, eight months, we’re fine,” UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said.

Korie Dean contributed to this article.