Shutdown is growing even worse

How the shutdown is growing even worse

By CAITLIN EMMA

Hundreds of thousands of government employees missed a paycheck on Friday for the first time since the shutdown began, injecting new urgency into the fight and intensifying the already perilous political pressure to reopen nine shuttered federal departments.

The partial government shutdown has officially hit the three-week mark, and if it drags into Saturday, it will be the longest on record. Thousands of federal employees are applying for unemployment benefits and the Trump administration is scrambling. As federal workers cut back on spending, the overall cost to the economy soars — at about $1.2 billion a week. The shutdown could also mean more than $1 billion in lost productivity for the government.

Pay stubs distributed to air traffic controllers on Thursday read a balance of $0 for their last two weeks of work. EPA employees received half their normal paycheck on Friday and TSA employees are getting compensated for just one day.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has said he’ll sign a bill cleared by Congress this week guaranteeing retroactive pay for federal workers as soon as the shutdown ends.

Along with DHS, the departments of Agriculture, Justice, Treasury, Commerce, Interior, State, Transportation and HUD are all hit by the partial shutdown, as well as agencies like EPA, the FDA and the IRS.

The American Federation of Government Employees is suing the Trump administration over the shutdown, as is the National Treasury Employees Union and the union that represents air traffic controllers. The AFL-CIO, federal workers and Democratic lawmakers rallied Thursday at the union’s headquarters in D.C and marched on the White House.

The president is said to be weighing whether to declare a national emergency to build his border wall. But Trump said Friday that he’s “not going to do it so fast“ and that Congress should vote to approve billions for a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border.

House Democrats this week passed four spending bills to reopen parts of the government, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the upper chamber won’t take up any legislation that the president won’t sign.

How the shutdown is inflicting even more pain:

Workers clamor for unemployment benefits: At least 8,815 federal employees and contractors living in D.C., Maryland and Virginia have applied for unemployment benefits since the shutdown began on Dec. 22, according to a POLITICO tally of the latest numbers maintained by state and local officials. That includes 4,836 federal workers and an estimated 1,061 contractors living in D.C. Roughly 800,000 federal workers are affected, 350,000 of whom are furloughed. The rest are on the job without pay.

Airline safety erodes: The aviation industry is stressing that safety suffers when air traffic controllers, baggage screeners and Federal Aviation Administration technicians and inspectors are furloughed or forced to work without pay. With FAA safety inspectors at home, airlines are essentially policing themselves.

States put off new transportation projects: Without the guarantee of fiscal 2019 appropriations, states are increasingly delaying the start of new projects. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is putting off three dozen projects totaling almost $133 million because of the shutdown. Key milestones in the development of the Gateway project between New York and New Jersey have also stalled.

Tapping into credit: Transit authorities that typically receive millions every month in federal funding are now drawing on lines of credit to pay their vendors. “No one knows exactly what the breaking point is,” said Paul Skoutelas, president and CEO of the American Public Transportation Association. Agencies his group is surveying are "saying a month. Maybe a little bit longer.”

Restoring food safety inspections: The shutdown has barred the Food and Drug Administration from performing most routine food safety inspections, but officials at the agency are hoping to restart some for high-risk products, like seafood and raw fruit. It’s unlikely that many inspections have been missed, however, since high-risk food facilities aren’t inspected very often even when the government is fully funded.

Stink bugs notch a win: Research on invasive crop pests like stink bugs and other agricultural science projects has ceased, thanks to furloughed workers, closed laboratories and frozen federal grants. Scientists at universities, private labs and government agencies are now worried about the viability of their work.

Tax refunds will go out on time: Acting White House budget director Russ Vought said Monday that tax refunds won’t be delayed — heading off the Treasury Department, which had been trying to figure out if that’s even legally possible. But there’s still no sign of a contingency plan for how the IRS proposes to pull it off.

Accident investigations grind to a halt: The National Transportation Safety Board, typically charged with investigating accidents, can’t look into a tractor-trailer crash with a school bus that injured 15 people and a general aviation crash that killed four. The agency has been forced to forgo launching investigations into a dozen incidents because of furloughed workers. In four other accidents, NTSB had to stop collecting evidence, which is necessary to determine whether the agency needs to launch an investigation.

Courts look for cash: Federal courts had enough money to remain totally operational through Friday, but now the U.S. judiciary is scraping together funds to keep courts open until Jan. 18. That means putting off new hires and non-case-related travel. The Justice Department has also asked some federal courts to temporarily put on hold some court cases in which the federal government is a party until the partial government shutdown ends. For example, DOJ this week asked for a delay in the legal fight over the fate of Obamacare.

Waning wireless accessibility: With the Federal Communications Commission hit by the shutdown, the telecom industry is warning that 5G-enabled technologies may have a harder time making it to market.

FBI stretched thin: The FBI Agents Association urged Trump and congressional leaders to reopen the government, saying the ongoing shutdown “undermines the FBI’s ability to recruit and retain high-caliber professionals.”

Assuaging fears over food stamp funding: The Trump administration on Tuesday said funding for food stamp benefits won’t run out in February — even though White House officials just a few days earlier raised the specter of the program running out of money. Nearly 39 million people depend on the program each month. Questions still remain about what will happen to food stamp benefits in March.

TSA’s call-outs increase: The number of TSA agents calling out of work has increased threefold at some airports since the shutdown began and the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents a chunk of TSA employees, says some have even quit altogether. TSA said that on Jan. 7, the agency had an “unscheduled absence rate” of 4.6 percent, compared to 3.8 percent on the same day the previous year.

Federal scientists miss key conferences: An annual gathering of the American Meteorological Society was hit hard by the shutdown, with scores of officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA bowing out. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine was among those who had to cancel plans. “I was very much looking forward to the AMS conference since NASA builds NOAA’s weather satellites,” he told POLITICO.

National parks reel: The National Park Service will tap into visitor fees typically used to improve the visitor experience in order to clear the mounting garbage and continue basic maintenance. Democrats like Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), who works on Interior spending, have vowed to fight the department’s decision

Childcare costs pose a burden: Many federal employees pay thousands of dollars for childcare services at on-site centers in federal buildings, even as they work without pay or are furloughed. Unenrolling in those daycares means losing a spot in a city where two-year-long waitlists are common at most federal centers and workers often apply for spots even before they become pregnant with a child.

Landlords dip into reserves: HUD told lenders that landlords at properties insured by the Federal Housing Administration should dip into reserve cash so tenants aren’t evicted during the shutdown. Mortgage lenders and financial institutions are now working to help federal employees pay the bills. State and federal regulators are also urging financial institutions to work with consumers during the shutdown.

Disaster aid delayed: Billions of dollars in disaster aid to states and cities to help build up their defenses against natural disasters has been delayed because HUD can’t issue guidance on how to apply for the funds. That poses a major problem for states like Texas, which is still recovering from Hurricane Harvey and working to prepare for the 2019 hurricane season.

Federal hiring gets pinched: Understaffed agencies like the FDA can’t onboard new employees as expected and recruitment efforts have ground to a halt. FDA this week welcomed just half of the new hires that the agency would have welcomed under normal circumstances.

Corporate America feels the sting: The shutdown is delaying mergers and acquisitions involving foreign investors, threatening a number of business deals from happening in January. Companies preparing to make initial public offerings, which often serve as a springboard for jobs and growth, can’t get a sign-off from the SEC.