LINCOLN — Nebraska is home to 17,000 federal employees, many of whom started to go without pay Wednesday amid a government shutdown and a partisan rift over health care provision negotiations.
Workers the government deems essential still have to clock-in for work to reduce the public impacts of the shutdown, and certain services like the mail, Social Security checks and Medicare coverage will continue uninterrupted. But Nebraska officials said Wednesday the effects can be significant and worsen over time, meaning it’s in everyone’s best interest for the government to reopen quickly to reduce harm to workers, taxpayers and the public.
Republicans say their continuing resolution to open the government is “clean,” lacking any controversial measures. Democrats say they are standing up to the president and almost universally voted against the legislation, demanding funding for health care subsidies that are expiring for millions of people under the Affordable Care Act, spiking insurance premium costs. Some Republicans have said those negotiations can wait because the subsidies expire at the end of the year. Democrats insist the time is now.
Here’s a look at shutdown effects in Nebraska:
Eppley Airfield, Department of Defense
Eppley Airfield operations have not been affected by the federal government shutting down, said Tim Schmitt, director of operations at the Omaha Airport Authority. He added past government shutdowns, including for 35 days between 2018 and 2019, have not affected airport operations.
Ruark Hotopp, a district vice president for American Federation of Government Employees, noted that Department of Homeland Security staff reported to work Wednesday, including Transportation Security Administration agents.
Department of Defense employees are working as well. Rep. Don Bacon said in a call with reporters Wednesday that he feels for military personnel.
“A lot of these folks aren’t getting paid a lot, so then it does create, if it goes longer than two weeks, a lot of stress in our military,” Bacon, a Republican and retired Air Force brigadier general, said. He said within a week, he expects Congress to consider a bill to resume military pay.
Hotopp said Veterans Affairs facilities should be operating as usual because they have a separate funding mechanism. Many federal employees in Nebraska work in immigration offices, and Hotopp said those jobs are funded by fees those offices collect.
Education
University of Nebraska officials have said that for most students receiving federal financial aid, short-term shutdowns typically have caused little disruption. Research and grant activities, the university said, may be impacted if federal agencies pause new awards, delay reimbursements or issue stop-work orders.
Omaha Public Schools spokesperson Bridget Blevins said, “We do not anticipate any immediate impact on services due to the government shutdown” and that the district will continue to monitor the situation.
Food inspections
Hotopp said Wednesday that he was still gathering information from employees across the state but had heard of Department of Agriculture employees in the state furloughed. The department furloughed about half its staff nationwide, but stated it will continue with food inspections.
Hotopp said, “You shut that down, it’s only a matter of time before you start seeing the public get sick from their food supply.”
Taxpayer burden
Hotopp said the immediate effect of the shutdown is employees not receiving their paychecks. “They’re folks with families that rely on their paychecks, just like every other American,” Hotopp said. But since those employees are guaranteed back pay, whether they worked or were furloughed, Hotopp said taxpayers are ultimately losing out by paying for labor that didn’t happen.
He also noted that agencies are meant to inform furloughed employees about their options for unemployment benefits while they aren’t working. If the shutdown drags out, Hotopp expects those employees to apply for those benefits, which states pay out.
Nonprofits
Bacon said he hopes impacts are minimal, but shutdowns have major effects in some sectors. He said contractors working with the government are going to be on hold, and a lot of nonprofits rely on federal government support.
“It creates a lot of chaos, a lot of uncertainty,” Bacon said.
Jobs on the line
Federal jobs have become a bargaining chip in negotiations over a funding bill, with President Donald Trump’s administration threatening mass firings as Republicans and Democrats remain at an impasse over health care subsidies.
“We are going to have to lay some people off if the shutdown continues. We don’t like that. We don’t necessarily want to do it,” Vice President J.D. Vance said. “But we’re going to do what we have to keep the American people’s essential services continuing to run.”
Bacon said he doesn’t like to see jobs threatened, but the situation was avoidable if the Democrats voted for the continuing resolution to fund the government. He called the resolution free of partisan policies and said health care negotiations could happen later.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., however, said Republicans wanted to do the layoffs anyway and have not negotiated the health care protections Democrats are trying to preserve.
Hotopp noted that Republicans dangled reductions in force earlier this year to pass a previous funding bill, then the Department of Government Efficiency still went through with mass layoffs.
Ultimately, he said, “My hope is always that we find a peaceful solution and a compromise, and that our Congress and our White House will get back to working for the American people.”
His concern if the shutdown stretches is the administration could come back and say, “Look, all of these people aren’t performing any work, so therefore you don’t need them anyway.”
Jobs deemed “nonessential” in a shutdown are far from it, Hotopp said: “Eventually there’s an effect on the services you provide, and eventually, it will catch up to everyone.”
Omaha World-Herald staff writers Dan Crisler and Luna Stephens contributed to this report.
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