Plans are underway to form a BID on East 125th Street, a diverse corridor with a rich cultural history, outstanding intermodal transit connectivity, and a growing population. It is the terminus of the proposed Second Avenue Subway and has seen significant residential development over the past decade. With the support of the NYC Department of…
NEW YORK (AP) — With gridlock persisting in Washington, a government shutdown is looking more and more likely ahead of Saturday night’s deadline.
As the Senate marches ahead with a bipartisan approach aimed at keeping the government open, spending measures are still struggling to pass the Republican-controlled House. If a shutdown arrives, millions of federal employees will be furloughed and many others — including those working in the military and the Transportation Security Administration — will be forced to work without pay until it ends.
A handful of federal programs that people nationwide rely on everyday could also be disrupted — from dwindling funds for food assistance to potential delays in customer service for recipients of Medicare and Social Security. The ripple effects would come down to how long the shutdown lasts and varying contingency plans in place at impacted agencies.
“Collectively, hundreds of millions of Americans, a majority of the population, are receiving some kind of benefits from the government,” said Forrest V. Morgeson III, an associate professor at Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business. He noted a potential shutdown could bring significant financial uncertainty and economic implications down the road.
Here’s what you need to know.Will SNAP be affected by a government shutdown? What about WIC?
A government shutdown could risk millions of low-income Americans’ access to food and nutrition assistance programs — with impacts depending on how long the shutdown lasts and program-by-program contingency funds.
Nearly 7 million women and children who rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) could be at risk of losing assistance almost immediately into a shutdown, according to the Biden Administration. That’s because the federal contingency fund supporting normal WIC operations will likely run out in a matter of days — pushing states to rely on their own money or carryover funds.
Impacted families are “going to be going to food pantries,” said Dr. Nancy Nielsen, senior associate dean for health policy at the University at Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. “These are people who need the help. These are moms. These are infants. So this is a real problem.”
Families who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could also lose assistance if a shutdown drags out for a more significant period of time. According to the Agriculture Department, regardless of what happens in Washington this weekend, households will receive SNAP assistance as usual through October.What about Head Start programs and free school lunch?
Head Start programs serving more than 10,000 disadvantaged children would immediately lose federal funding, although they might be able to stave off immediate closure if the shutdown doesn’t last long.
Those 10 programs, which are located in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts and South Carolina, serve just a fraction of the 820,000 children enrolled in the program at any given time.
Tommy Sheridan, the deputy director for the National Head Start Association, said the programs are in trouble because their grants start on Oct. 1. Programs with grants that don’t start on that date will continue getting money. But if the shutdown drags on, the number of affected programs will grow as more grants come up for renewal.
Beyond Head Start, concerns have also arisen around free school meals. But the Agriculture Department says it does not anticipate any immediate issues with federal child nutrition programs, including school meals because support for these programs is provided in part by a permanent and mandatory funding authority.
In the event of a government shutdown, state and federal operations for child nutrition are set to continue through October and potentially a few months beyond that, according to the department. But the department would not be able to support these programs for the full year without appropriations.Will I continue to receive Social Security checks?
Regardless of what happens in Washington this weekend, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients will continue to receive payments. But response times for people with issues could be delayed due to furloughs.
“If you have a question about Social Security, you may not be able to find anybody to answer your questions,” Nielsen said. “But the everyday transactions of sending checks out will still continue.”
According to a recent contingency plan from the Social Security Administration, the agency will cease non-critical actions and those “not directly related to the accurate and timely payment of benefits.” The issuance of new social security cards and replacements will continue.Would a shutdown impact Medicare and other health services?
Medicare and Medicaid benefits will also continue — as both are mandatory programs funded separately from annual appropriations. That means that patients should still be able to see their doctors and have medical bills paid.
But, similar to Social Security, there could be delays and disruptions to customer service due to furloughs. According to contingency details published by the Health and Human Services Department last week, about half of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is set to be furloughed in the event of a lapse of appropriations.
Beyond Medicare and Medicaid, health care services for veterans are set to continue in the event of a shutdown. The majority of programs funded by the Indian Health Service would also remain in operation and IHS has received advanced appropriations for the 2024 fiscal year, per a recent contingency plan.How could flights and other travel be impacted?
The nation’s air-travel system is expected to operate relatively normally during a shutdown. Air traffic controllers and TSA screeners are deemed essential workers — however, those people won’t be paid until the shutdown ends, and TSA lines could grow longer if enough screeners stay home.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday that air travel will remain safe in a shutdown, but that the training of new air traffic controllers will stop and 1,000 trainees will be furloughed.
Long before this week’s deadline, airlines were already been complaining that a shortage of air traffic controllers has been causing flight delays and cancellations. The Federal Aviation Administration said in August it hired 1,500 new controllers in the past year and asked Congress for money to hire another 1,800 in the new fiscal year.
The processing of passports and visas will continue in a shutdown “as the situation permits,” according to guidance that the State Department gave employees last week. The department said consulates in the U.S. and abroad will say open “as long as there are sufficient fees to support operations,” but passport work could stop if the building where the work is done gets shuttered.
The time it takes to get a passport or visa already is much longer than before the pandemic. Most Customs and Border Protection agents are also considered essential and would be expected to work at airports and border crossings.Could there be student loan disruptions?
If spending measures aren’t passed by Saturday’s deadline, the government shutdown would start the same day that student loans emerge from the pandemic pause after beginning to accrue interest again on Sept. 1.
But, shutdown or not, borrowers’ payments will still be due. For the most part, loan servicers will be able to continue to process payments regularly — but there could be delays for those who need to consult with or seek help from the Education Department due to the potential of agency furloughs.
Students applying for federal aid during a shutdown can expect similar delays because of this. Officials have pointed to potential disruptions to processing FAFSA applications, disbursing Pell Grants and pursuing public loan forgiveness, for example.Would mail services slow down?
The United States Postal Service will not be affected by a government shutdown. The Postal Service doesn’t rely on taxpayer dollars because it generally gets its funding through the sales of products and services.
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Associated Press writers David Koenig in Dallas and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City contributed to this report.
The AmNews hosted its 9th Labor Awards Breakfast Thursday honoring several movers and shakers in the labor movement.
The event was held at the 1199SEIU Headquarters in Midtown and brought out several union, community and political leaders. This year’s theme was ““Vision to Reality” celebrating the leaders that fought for Black and minority inclusion in the skilled trades.
Ariama C. Long photos
U.S. Sen Kirsten GilIibrand (D-NY) kicked off the breakfast with a welcome to guest via a video message followed by an invocation by Elise Bryan, President of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLEW).
Honorees included Gary LaBarbera, President of the New York State and the New York City Building and Construction Trades Councils, Lavon Chambers, Executive Director at Pathways to Apprenticeship, William Wallace IV, Senior Acquisitions Officer at The Continuum Company and Priscilla Sims Brown, CEO of Amalgamated Bank.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Activists in Mississippi’s majority-Black capital city are trying to join a federal lawsuit against the city for violating standards for clean drinking water, even as they say the Black judge presiding over the case is stirring racial division.
The activists from the Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign and People’s Advocacy Institute filed court papers Wednesday asking to intervene in the federal government’s lawsuit against Jackson. During a news conference Wednesday, activists said they spoke for residents in the 80% Black city who want more say over reforms to the water system.
“We feel like our lives are on the chopping block here in the city of Jackson,” said Danyelle Holmes, an organizer with the Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign. “We could no longer sit by idly as government agencies allow residents to be told that it’s OK to drink unclean water.”
The federal government has taken legal steps to scrutinize Jackson’s water quality for over a decade. But in November, the Justice Department accelerated its involvement after breakdowns in Jackson caused many in the city of about 150,000 residents to go days and weeks without safe running water. Last August and September, people waited in lines for water to drink, bathe, flush toilets and cook.
U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate appointed Ted Henifin, who had decades of experience running water systems in other states, to help fix Jackson’s long-troubled water system. Henifin began working on several projects to improve the water infrastructure, such as repairing broken water lines and a plan to improve the city’s ability to collect water bills.
Henifin said in June that he was not aware of any health risk in drinking Jackson water. In a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday, Henifin said his team “is committed to public education that focuses on the people of Jackson and helping them understand what is happening with their water and the engineering science, not through the interpretive lens of activists, special interests or agendas.”
“We have been completely open and transparent with our water quality testing data and are in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act,” Henifin said.
He also pointed to water quality reports and the Mississippi Department of Health water testing data that are available online.
At a multi-day federal court hearing in July, activists said they had received mixed messages about whether Jackson’s water was safe to drink. Some residents reported discolored water flowing from their pipes even after public health orders were lifted. Activists also said they were being kept in the dark about the status of reforms.
After Congress awarded Jackson $600 million for water repairs, some city leaders and activists also said they wanted Henifin to look for minority-owned firms when awarding contracts for infrastructure projects.
Henifin, who is white, said he had been transparent about the quality of Jackson’s water and his work as the interim manager. He also mentioned plans to launch a minority contracting program that would employ Black-owned firms whenever possible, WLBT-TV reported.
In a July 21 ruling, Wingate, who is Black, said many of the concerns raised by the Black activists were without merit.
“They have no experience in water management, and no logical rationale why an African American would be better suited to fix a lingering problem which has gone unsolved for decades by past African American leadership,” Wingate wrote.
During Wednesday’s news conference, activists lambasted the judge for his comments.
“When the judge made his statement that we just want someone Black to fix our water, that is very disingenuous. That’s a disgrace,” Holmes said. “You have a judge who is pitting Black against white, poor against the wealthy, and it’s totally unfair. Whether you’re Black, white or brown, we’re all consuming the same water unless you’re wealthy and have purchased a filtration system, which many of the residents who are predominantly Black cannot afford.”
Brooke Floyd, co-director of the Jackson People’s Assembly, said even those without expertise in water management should be able to voice concerns.
“I think it’s just unconscionable that it was even brought up,” Floyd said. “The race stuff was ridiculous, and it’s also ridiculous to say that because we are upset our water is not safe to drink, that we should just go sit down and be quiet and take what is given to us.”
If they are allowed to join the federal lawsuit, Jackson community groups would have an “institutionalized role in settlement negotiations,” the activists said. They are asking for the installation of water filters in homes, more open meetings convened by the Environmental Protection Agency and a range of other demands.
Henifin had hoped to complete his work as Jackson’s interim water manager in one year or less. Rukia Lumumba, executive director of the People’s Advocacy Institute and sister of Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, said she wants the city to work cordially with Henifin while he is still in Jackson.
“As it relates to long-term, we want to see someone in Jackson that lives here,” Rukia Lumumba said. “We want to see the city have the resources to fully operate the water system itself where we don’t have to have another third-party operator.”
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Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him at @mikergoldberg.
