New York senators: Federal shutdown would have wide-ranging impacts on state

Sep. 28—WASHINGTON — House Republicans continue to disagree on federal spending levels, and some are threatening a government shutdown that New York's Democratic senators say would cut off pay for service members, federal employees and some benefits recipients.

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand said a shutdown of the federal government would be catastrophic for New Yorkers everywhere. They urged the Republicans leading the House to change course and pass the bill recently approved in the Senate that would extend federal funding in advance of a full budget deal.

Schumer said more than 50,000 federal employees in New York, plus another 30,000 military service members including the more than 15,000 on Fort Drum would receive no pay. Service members would work without pay while federal civilian employees would be furloughed.

The economic impact of that alone could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in delayed paycheck money after just a week.

Child care and medical care on military bases would be largely paused, leaving military families without child care at the same time they are working without pay.

Transportation Security Administration staff would work without pay during the furlough, but would lead to some furloughs of support staff at airports that would lead to increased wait times and poorer service quality at almost every airport. TSA staffers are also among the lowest paid federal workers, and Schumer said it would be especially difficult to bear the burden of working without pay for them.

A freeze on hiring and training programs would also likely exacerbate the existing shortage of federal airport staff.

New hires in Customs and Border Protection would not be onboarded during a shutdown, leaving the staffing gaps at the southern and northern borders open for longer, and would delay the implementation of new security technologies. Schumer said this would pose a major security threat at the borders.

Gillibrand said a shutdown could pose problems for the more than 400,000 New Yorkers who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or the Women, Infants, and Children food programs. Officials at the North Country Family Health Center, which administers a WIC program for Jefferson and Lewis counties said there is no expected immediate impact to the programs, and encouraged anyone in need of food assistance to inquire about the program as normal.

However, the federal government would stop sending money to the state offices that manage the WIC program after its emergency fund runs out, and eventually those programs will run out of money and be unable to pay for the benefits they're providing. Additionally, advocates for WIC programs and childhood nutrition programs have warned that Republicans are advocating for cuts to the WIC program in their budget proposals, putting the program at risk of shrinking.

Secretary of Agriculture Thomas J. Vilsack said in a press conference on Monday that he expects the U.S. Department o Agriculture emergency fund supporting food assistance programs to dry up within days of a government shutdown, and the various states would then see their own unspent funds expire within days to weeks.

Schumer said SNAP could expire if the shutdown extends beyond October.

"With a shutdown, what we would see across the United States is a denial of those benefits and opportunities," he told reporters at a White House briefing. "In some cases, it would be literally within a matter of days after the shutdown. In some states, it may be literally in a matter of weeks."

Vilsack said farm service agency offices across the country would shut down as well, closing off assistance to farmers who may be preparing to approach the USDA for loans or grants.

Rural home loans for first-time homebuyers and the grant programs that see USDA funding to to support development projects in rural towns would be cut off.

Outside the USDA, federal Small Business Administration loans would be inaccessible for new applicants for the duration of a government shutdown, and non-rural housing loan programs for first time buyers would also stop taking applicants for the duration of a shutdown. Low-income emergency heating assistance funds would not be rolled out to states to distribute either, just as temperatures turn and New Yorkers prepare to turn their heating systems back on for the winter.

Senate Democrats and Republicans have largely distanced themselves from efforts to force a government shutdown, passing a short-term funding package that would extend federal spending at current levels until the next federal budget is passed.

"This is not an abstract issue," Schumer said. "If the House GOP refuses to embrace this bridge towards cooperation and away from extremism, the government will inevitably shutdown, causing disruptions for millions of New Yorkers for services they rely on while thousands of federal workers could be furloughed."