Shutdown felt in Ocean State; 7K furloughed

SIGN SAYS IT ALL: The Roger Williams National Memorial visitors center in Providence was closed last week due to the partial federal government shutdown. / PBN PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD
SIGN SAYS IT ALL: The Roger Williams National Memorial visitors center in Providence was closed last week due to the partial federal government shutdown. / PBN PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD

More than half of Rhode Island civilian federal employees were sent home from work last week when Congress failed to fund the U.S. government, triggering an indefinite shutdown.
About 7,000 of the total 11,500 federal nonmilitary workers in Rhode Island had been furloughed as of Oct. 3, according to estimates provided by staff for Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I.
The largest impact was felt at Naval Station Newport, where 800 civilian employees were furloughed starting Oct. 1.
Military personnel at the base remained on duty, but the shutdown affected civilian nonemergency or life-support operations at all 50 commands except the Naval Undersea Warfare Center.
Many classes at the Naval War College were canceled, the Naval War College Museum was closed, as was the base commissary and “Pass and ID office,” according to an announcement from the public relations office before it was also closed.
Federally run parks across the state were closed, including Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence, which is run by the National Park Service, and five wildlife refuges run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
About 300 civilian employees of the Rhode Island National Guard were furloughed, according to The Associated Press.
House Republican leaders last week were meeting intermittently with their Democratic counterparts and President Barack Obama to resolve the dispute.
Despite the shutdown, many federal government operations continued, including air-traffic control, law enforcement and security for federal facilities.
U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island remained open throughout the week, but it was unclear how long it would remain operating without an agreement to restore federal funding. U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha said between one-third and half of his office’s 45 employees had been sent home. The determination of who would work during the shutdown was made based on who had pending business in court and who was working on an active investigation, he said.
“Civil cases may not proceed, but the public should know if there are cases that are critical, we are going to keep those investigations going. Certainly there is an impact on getting work done and how fast you can move,” he said.
Neronha said he had been told the courts would remain open for at least two weeks after the shutdown, but beyond that was uncertain.
The Federal Building on Westminster Street in Providence stayed open after the shutdown as the Social Security benefits were not disrupted.
The Department of Veterans Affairs was also open.
The Internal Revenue Service’s Rhode Island office, also in Providence’s Federal Building, was closed.
In Narragansett, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s office on Tarzwell Drive was closed.
Federal safety-net programs such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) and rent subsidies continued in the short term, but faced uncertainty if the shutdown became prolonged.
The Small Business Administration continued servicing existing loans, but was unable to issue new loans.
At least in the short term, the federal shutdown did not impact state government operations, according to Christine Hunsinger, spokeswoman for Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee.
“If the shutdown drags on, decisions will have to be made about operations that rely on federal funding,” she said. •

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