Good morning and welcome to Wednesday.
Gov. Ron DeSantis may have tried to score some political points by wading into Congress’ spending fight, but a prolonged government shutdown threatens to hurt Florida workers as well as its tourism and agriculture industries.
U.S. House GOP lawmakers remain splintered over a spending package just 11 days out from a partial government shutdown. A bill to temporarily fund the government failed in a dramatic floor vote yesterday as members of the hard-right Freedom Caucus push for spending cuts to the larger package while demanding a slew of promises that include funding for the southern border wall.
Lawmakers often cut it close with spending deadlines as leaders work to appease their members and arrive at a deal. In recent years, they’ve sparred over vaccine mandates, border security and the debt. Sometimes, shutdowns only last a few days. But the longer shutdowns last, the more damage they do.
“The tenor and the tone of their fights is getting amped up and so I’m concerned that this could be a prolonged shutdown,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), who was director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management during the first two years DeSantis was in office. “This is really going to hurt the American people. And oh, by the way, it’s going to cost us billions of dollars.”
When Congress doesn’t fund the government, federal employees don’t get paid and all but the most necessary employees are told to stop working. More than 90,000 Floridians count the federal government as their employer and could see a disruption in their paychecks — while at the same time struggling with inflation and high housing costs. Florida’s federal staffers work at NASA and for agencies such as the Small Business Administration and others.
Those employed in the federal prison system are considered essential and therefore must work without pay during a shutdown.
But the private sector, including tourism, is also affected when…
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