Government Shutdown: What It Would Mean For New York

NEW YORK, NY — Thousands of federal workers — including many in New York — could stay home from work Saturday as the government lurched towards a shutdown that would mean 25 percent of federal agencies would run out of money Friday night.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump told an emergency meeting with House Republican leaders he would not accept a Senate-passed measure that would fund the government through Feb. 8 but not give cash for a wall along the border with Mexico.

“At this moment” President Donald Trump “does not want to go further without border security, which includes steel slats or a wall,” a statement from the White House said. It added that the president is “continuing to weigh his options.”

The Senate had passed a stopgap funding bill on Wednesday that keeps the government funded past Friday, but it needed the presidents approval. The temporary funding bill would have kept the government running until Feb. 8, but some Republicans say it’s better to fight for the border wall now, before they relinquish their majority in the House to Democrats in the new year.

Trump had originally demanded $5 billion to fund the border wall but White House officials said earlier this week he was willing to settle for far less. The current bill offers $1.3 billion for border security, but the appropriation cannot be used to build a wall.

The lack of agreement means a shutdown is looking more likely. Specific details of what that means have not been revealed, but it could impact several services in New York.

About 50,000 people in New York City work for the federal government, according to the state Department of Labor. Many of them would be furloughed, or forced to stay home without pay, if there's a shutdown.

The number of furloughed workers depends on the agency. Departments that perform necessary health and safety functions, such as the military and publicly funded clinics, will remain open, but all workers who aren't considered essential will likely stay home.

The largest federal employer in the New York City metropolitan area is the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has more than 9,300 local workers, according to data published by Newsday in 2013.

During the last shutdown in January this year, the department kept 95 percent of its workers nationwide on the job, according to its contingency plan.

But the area's second-largest federal employer, the Internal Revenue Service, was hit harder last time. The agency, which employs more than 5,800 people in the metropolitan region, forced 56.5 percent of its workers to stay at home nationwide just as income tax season gets underway.

In January, furloughs essentially gutted the staff at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the biggest funder of New York City's public housing complexes. Some 96 percent of its 7,800 workers nationwide stayed home until the government reopened.

You'll still get your mail during a shutdown. The U.S. Postal Service, which employs about 19,000 people in New York City, will remain open.

The city's more than 21,000 active duty military personnel will also stay on the job. But about half of the Department of Defense's civilian employees — of which there are about 11,000 in New York City — would be furloughed if the agency's reported January plan were to hold.

The shutdown won't impact most health care services. Medicare patients will continue to get insurance coverage, and Medicaid is administered by the states so it won't be affected. The city's more than 100 community health centers, federally funded clinics that serve low-income people, will also stay open.

In January, the Department of Interior planned to keep national parks open but not open restrooms, hold educational programs or provide other visitor services, according to the National Parks Service's contingency plan. Federal officials had planned to close the Statue of Liberty, but New York State agreed to pay to keep the attraction open.

The District of Columbia and neighboring Maryland and Virginia would be hit hardest because they have large numbers of federal employees and the most federal contract dollars per capita, the personal finance website WalletHub found.

This story was originally reported by Noah Manskar.

(Lead image: The Jacob K. Javits Federal Building is seen in Lower Manhattan in April 2017. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)