How the government shutdown is affecting Florida

The federal government partially shut down just after midnight after the Donald Trump administration and Congress failed to reach a deal on a government funding deal.

During a federal shutdown, virtually all nonessential federal services, amenities and other functions stop, including things like national parks, food inspections, IRS responsibilities and other services.

Any federal workers deemed nonessential are furloughed during a shutdown, while essential employees must return to work but do not get paid until the shutdown is over.

No one knows at this time how long the shutdown will last. The last time the federal government shut down was six years ago during the first Trump administration. It lasted for 35 days, from December 2018 through January 2019, the longest government shutdown ever. It cost the economy about $3 billion.

As of last September, there were more than 95,000 federal workers in Florida, accounting for about 1 in 20 federal employees across the nation, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management^[1].

How many of those are essential is unclear.

Fortunately for Floridians, most government services they use on a daily basis are provided by either state or local governments and won’t be impacted.

Trash collection, water services, building permitting, zoning, driver’s licenses and other services frequented are run by either cities or counties, which are not affected by the shutdown. Electric services throughout the state are either run municipally or through private contracts with companies such as Duke Energy, Florida Power & Light or TECO.

But some services could still be impacted:

— National Parks: Florida is home to four national parks: Biscayne National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Dry Tortugas National Park and Everglades National Park. The National Park Service has not announced official plans for specific parks. But in 2018^[2], during the last government shutdown, parks remained open, but with limited services. Most National Park facilities at Florida-based parks were closed, including visitor centers. Some restroom facilities also closed, and those that remained open did not necessarily have access to staff to clean and maintain them. Some campgrounds remained open, but were not staffed, and publicly accessible marine waters remained open, though extreme caution was advised.

— Veterans services: Veterans’ health care services will not be affected^[3] by the shutdown, and about 97% of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees will continue working during the shutdown, according to the VA. That means medical centers, outpatient clinics and other veterans’ service centers will remain open. VA benefits will continue to be processed and delivered, and suicide prevention, homeless and caregiver support services will also continue. VA benefits regional offices, however, will be closed.

— Air travel: Airport security and air traffic control are considered essential services, meaning employees will continue to report for work and, in theory, air travel would be unaffected. However, new hire training will be halted. Air traffic control and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee absenteeism was an issue in 2018, causing some flight delays during the previous government shutdown.

— Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Often referred to as food stamps, SNAP program funding is an essential service and will be funded. However, benefit distribution could be impacted. If the shutdown is prolonged, and funds begin to run low, the SNAP program will prioritize pregnant or breastfeeding women and infants with high nutritional risk. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) will be halted, though in some cases benefits could continue temporarily if contingency funds are used or if states have unspent WIC benefit funds.

— Food inspections: Inspections through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be halted, though during the last government shutdown, the FDA eventually restored inspections to certain high-risk products after the shutdown had carried on for several weeks.

— Social Security: Social Security recipients will continue receiving benefits.

— Medicare and Medicaid: Both health care safety net programs are essential services and will continue. Benefits will not be impacted.

— Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): As Florida braces for the busiest part of hurricane season, access to FEMA services may be top of mind for Floridians, particularly those still smarting from last year’s devastating season. FEMA will still respond to disasters through the shutdown, but its services may be reduced. That could spell trouble if a disaster were to occur during the shutdown, because FEMA is already short 200 employees who were laid off as part of staff cutbacks under the Trump administration.

— U.S. Postal Service (USPS): Mail services will be unaffected and postal service employees will continue to be paid because USPS is mostly funded through stamp sales and other services.

— Student loans: Sorry folks, you still have to pay ’em.