Lebanon
While there’s about 3,700 federal workers in the Twin States going without pay, the economic fallout of the three-week old shutdown could get worse in the coming month, some warn.
That’s when money for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program — the current version of food stamps — and Section 8 rental assistance is predicted to dry up.
“This one’s a little unnerving,” said Kyle Fisher, executive director of Lebanon-based Listen Community Services, of the prospect of a continued shutdown. “We certainly hope to see some movement. If not, Listen will be here for folks.”
Congress has not funded SNAP benefits past January, and the program’s emergency reserves are expected to cover less than two-thirds of February’s payments, according to the Washington Post.
If payments were to stop, Fisher expects the demand for food could inundate the region’s food pantries.
Listen operates a pantry in Lebanon and offers community dinners in White River Junction and Canaan. And the nonprofit is willing to dip into reserve funds to keep people fed.
“We’ll welcome people with open arms and buy as much food as we possibly can,” Fisher said on Monday. “To the extent that we can help people bridge the gap, we certainly will.”
Michael Redmond, executive director of the Upper Valley Haven, said his organization is also preparing to purchase more food for its White River Junction pantry.
“If we see that there are increased demands, we would have to respond,” he said.
Redmond said the Haven’s staff are also helping the working poor to navigate other challenges from the shutdown.
Families who rely on earned income tax credits may having trouble receiving them on time, since the Internal Revenue Service has predicted the shutdown could delay refunds, he said, adding it’s also been difficult obtaining vital records needed to get homeless people into transitional programs.
A drop in federal rental assistance would also require Twin Pines Housing Trust to dip into reserves to help families living at two of its Lebanon facilities.
The 100-unit Village at Crafts Hill and 21-unit Rivermere rental properties both rely on money from the federal Department of Agriculture, said Twin Pines Executive Director Andrew Winter.
“Right now, the fact that support payments aren’t flowing is not creating problems because we have sufficient reserves to weather a short-term shutdown,” Winter said. “Eventually, you run through the money and it becomes a bigger issue.”
The shutdown has also slowed Twin Pines’ efforts to obtain a $6.75 million loan needed for the renovation of the Village at Crafts Hill.
The federal loan has been in the works since the nonprofit purchased the property in 2015, Winter said.
But it’s not clear when the budget impasse in Washington will clear.
President Donald Trump maintains that more than $5 billion is needed for a wall to secure the country’s southern border, a notion that Democrats say is immoral and ineffective.
While Democrats in the House have passed legislation to reopen the government without the wall funding, Trump has so far balked at the proposal. He plans to discuss the issue in a televised address tonight.
A solution is needed because more than 1,300 federal workers in Vermont might be going without a paycheck, according to a news release from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Many of those people work for the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of Agriculture, Customs and Border Patrol and the Internal Revenue Service, he said.
And as of last week, about 30 federal employees filed claims for unemployment assistance in Vermont, said Cameron Wood, the state Department of Labor’s director of unemployment insurance and wages.
In the Granite State, there’s roughly 2,400 people employed at unfunded federal agencies, according to Richard Lavers, deputy commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security.
Lavers said that state confidentiality law prevents him from saying how many of those people have filed unemployment claims.
“What we’ve seen so far has not been substantial,” he said on Monday. “But there is some potential for a big number of people to file.”
Visitor services at both the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park in Woodstock and the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in New Hampshire were also suspended under the shutdown.
The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park grounds and trails are open to the public, but those trails and walkways are not being maintained, according to a notice on its website.
The same is true of Saint-Gaudens, which has closed its visitor center, buildings and nearby Blow-Me-Down Farm.
However, planes continued to shuttle passengers from Lebanon Municipal Airport to New York and Boston on Monday, even though the TSA employees checking bags were working without pay.
While TSA officials this weekend acknowledged an increase in the number of security employees calling off work, the Trump administration has pushed bak on reports that the trend represents a “sickout” that’s hampering air travel.
Officials at Cape Air, Lebanon’s sole commercial carrier, said there’s been no disruption to service because of the shutdown.
TSA employees at Lebanon airport on Monday declined to comment on the shutdown and emails to the agency’s spokespeople bounced back.
“As non-security-sensitive employees, TSA spokespeople have been placed on furlough until further notice,” said a notice from New England spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein. “Due to the lapse in federal funding, this email will not be monitored, and I will not be able to respond until after budget appropriations are enacted.”
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.