CLEVELAND — With just a few days to go until a potential Federal government shutdown, the talks continue in Washington.
The Congressional Research Office ranks Ohio eighth among all states regarding the number of Federal Civilian employees, with several thousand here in Northeast Ohio, but not all would be impacted.
NASA Glenn, the state's 96th largest employer with nearly 3,300 employees, would be.
In 2019, when the government shut down for a record 35 days, the agency went so far as to put on an event at the Great Lakes Science Center for impacted employees to learn more about food banks, loan options and other resources to help them get through that shutdown.
The impacts of 2019 were wide-ranging, from air travel slowdowns to partial closures at national parks and historic sites, all of which could force weekend plans to change for many in Northeast Ohio.
One NASA employee told News 5 at the time that several weeks in, he feared being kicked out of his apartment.
"If it goes on for more than another week or two, I'm going to have to talk to my landlord and my creditors and say, 'Hey listen, this is where I'm at, what can we do?" he said in 2019.
Also impacted that year were families like Amber Olsen's, whose husband was in the Coast Guard in Cleveland.
"We're the only branch of the military that is not guaranteed a paycheck during these times," Olsen said.
But the other branches did get paid, and that's why not impacted in 2019 were most of the more than 2,600 DFAS employees who work at the Celebrezze Federal Building in Downtown Cleveland; they are the ones who cut some of those military checks. They stayed open because they didn't rely on appropriations but instead on payment from the military.
The roughly 800 Federal Reserve Bank employees also would remain on the job. Even though Federal is in their name, they are not part of federal government agencies. The funding for their operations is not subject to Congressional appropriations.
Travelers in 2019 noticed little difference because air traffic controllers and TSA agents were required to work without pay. Same with most in Federal law enforcement. The President James Garfield National Historic Site was shut down, but the Cuyahoga Valley National Park was open, though restrooms were locked and rangers furloughed.
There have been 21 government shutdowns since 1976. After the last one, Congress passed the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, which requires Federal employees furloughed or required to work without pay to be compensated at the earliest date possible after the shutdown ends.
