A Blackhawk helicopter from the Conn. National Guard’s 169th Aviation Regiment at Bradley Airport flies over the Base Hangar at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Mass., during a training mission. The base will evaluate operations if there is a government shutdown. (Don Treeger/ The Republican/TNS)
CHICOPEE, Mass. (Tribune News Service) — If the government shuts down Oct. 1, Holyoke Chicopee Springfield Head Start will be OK, for a while.
The organization, which serves 550 children from birth to age 5, is on a Nov. 1 fiscal year, chief executive officer Nicole Blais.
The two federal shutdowns in 2018 lasted 36 days in total. If the impasse in Washington happens next weekend, and if it lasts until Nov.1, the local Head Start provider could be unable to access its $16.9 million in federal funding.
From child care providers to airports to offices that process Social Security and work with veterans, federal agencies in Western Massachusetts and organizations that rely on federal dollars here say a federal shutdown would not immediately affect their operations.
“Do we have any non-federal funding that we could use to keep the doors open?” Blais said Monday. “Hopefully people can figure things out.”
Friday, the White House said 10,000 children across the country would immediately lose access to Head Start if a shutdown occurs. If it persisted, then the impacts would only worsen, it said.
“Fingers crossed that it really doesn’t have a huge impact on any program,” Blais said. “It’s not fair to the folks. And it’s definitely not fair to the little ones that we care for every day.”
Katherine Mague, senior vice president at Behavioral Health Network, said her agency’s federal money flows through a state grant process. However, BHN’s clients typically rely on a host of federal programs from housing subsidies to SNAP food benefits.
“Our people will be hurting more than usual. But our doors will remain open,” Mague said.
Some doors will not remain open, however. And some government employees will continue working with their pay delayed or will face furlough.
U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, said a shutdown would prevent about 20,000 people in the state from collecting their paychecks, affecting their ability to buy food or pay rent. A shutdown would also affect the Women, Infants, Children program, affecting 125,000 residents within days of the a shutdown.
“Republicans are literally willing to shut down the government and take food out of the mouths of hungry infants in order to make a political point. It is sick,” McGovern said in a statement. “Then our cutting-edge biomedical research into diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s would be put on hold. We’d see increased delays at airports throughout New England as TSA and air traffic controllers are furloughed without pay. Not to mention the long-term harm a shutdown would do to our fiscal stability. A Republican Shutdown would be an unmitigated disaster for Massachusetts.”
On Friday, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, blamed the shutdown squarely on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the deals the California Republican made with a group of 20-or-so hardline members of his own party.
Neal, who says he keeps good relationships with his Republican colleagues, said 95% of them don’t want the shutdown because of the political price they’ll have to pay.
The Springfield Armory National Historic Site in Springfield, Mass., as seen on Sept. 25, 2023. (Don Treeger/ The Republican/TNS)
Springfield Armory National Historic Site and other National Park locations closed during the last shutdown. But at least one U.S. Senator, Republican John Barrasso of Wyoming, is urging the Park Service to keep facilities open.
Lt. Col. Rodney B. Furr, chief of public affairs at the 439th Airlift Wing and Westover Air Reserve Base, cautioned against speculating about what will or won’t happen during this shutdown based on what’s happened in the past.
“Right now, it is business as usual for the 439th Airlift Wing,” Furr wrote in an email Monday.
He added that Air Force Reserve Headquarters did not yet provide guidance regarding what to do should a shutdown come to pass.
“There are many moving parts with various courses of action, so for now we are continuing with our mission readiness training and providing rapid global mobility,” Furr wrote.
The human resources command of the Massachusetts National Guard — an agency that includes the 104th Fighter Wing at the Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield — is meeting this week to determine staffing. Spokesman Don Veitch said the Massachusetts National Guard did not expect an impact to airport operations.
But the base has a national security mission and won’t shut down, said Christopher Willenborg, Airport manager at Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport.
Likewise, the air traffic control tower at Westover will remain open. The tower is staffed by a government contractor.
At Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, the Connecticut Airport Authority said it is continuing to closely monitor the situation, but at this time it does not expect an impact to airport operations.
In the case of a shutdown, there would be no impact on veteran health care at places like the Edward P. Boland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the Leeds section of Northampton or at clinics in Springfield, Greenfield and Pittsfield, said Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis R. McDonough in a news conference Friday. Burials would continue at VA national cemeteries; VA would continue to process and deliver benefits to veterans, including compensation, pension, education and housing benefits; and the Board would continue to process appeals.
But VA workers may go unpaid during the shutdown.
Social Security checks would be delivered and applications for benefits processed but people would not be able to verify benefits or replace Medicare cards.
And workers would be unpaid.
Postal Service operations will not be interrupted in the event of a government shutdown and all post offices will remain open for business as usual, according to spokesman Steve Doherty.
The federal courts, including the U.S. District Court in Springfield, will remain open, and the judiciary has money from fines and fees to keep going for two weeks.
The federal government spent $129 million on research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the most recent fiscal year, according to a university report.
“While there may be temporary funding gaps in existing federal grants, UMass Amherst has historically covered these and waited to be reimbursed by the federal government,” said UMass Amherst spokesman Edward Blaguszewski. “The university has given guidance to researchers with federal funding to continue working unless instructed otherwise. While the university will prioritize continuity of existing research, new grant proposals may need to wait until after the shutdown for submission and review.”
©2023 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit masslive.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
