An aerial view of attack submarine USS Virginia (SSN 774), bottom, and fast attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN 22) moored to the pier at Submarine Base New London in 2007. Contributed file photo/U.S. Navy
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Connecticut residents will still get their mail and Social Security checks, but the shutdown of the federal government will reverberate through state agencies, especially those that are most reliant on federal grants and federal workers.
A look at both immediate and potential impacts:
The State Department of Aging said a shutdown of more than a few weeks would affect home-delivered and group meals for seniors, legal and transportation services, health promotion and respite for caregivers
The Connecticut Department of Public Health said it had 97 federal grants totaling about $208 million that year, accounting for more than half the agency’s budget. The health department also said it employed about 282 federally funded full-time employees, “for a bi-weekly payroll of $722,656.”
There are about 9,000 federal workers living in Connecticut – 2,625 working for the Pentagon alone, mostly at Naval Submarine Base New London. Those federal employees have been classified as “essential” and will continue to work.
Hundreds of other federal workers in Connecticut have been furloughed for the duration of the shutdown. Whether they are required to show up for work or not, these federal workers will not get paid unless they work for an agency like the U.S. Postal Service, whose budget is not dependent on appropriations from Congress.
n The University of Connecticut reported “in the short term, the effect of the shutdown will delay the arrival of new research grants and contracts” and “new awards already made could be rescinded or substantially delayed, depending on the length of the shutdown.”
