By GARRET JAROS and SHAYLA ESCUDERO/Lincoln Chronicle
The first federal government shutdown in six years was mostly quiet, uneventful but filled with uncertainty Wednesday in Lincoln County.
The most visible federal operations – the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area in Newport and the Cape Perpetua Visitors Center south of Yachats – were open and operating normally Wednesday.
For now.
But offices of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Hatfield Marine Science Center complex in Newport were closed and employees furloughed.
Most federal employees on the ground said they were in the dark until further notice. Staff at the Siuslaw National Forest’s Central Coast Ranger Station in Waldport and the Cape Perpetua Visitors Center said Wednesday they had received no guidance.
“We are just waiting to hear,” said a Waldport Forest Service staff member. “So it’s business as usual until we’re told otherwise.”
A ranger at Cape Perpetua said “As of right now we are open until further notice.”
Employees at BLM’s Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area in Newport have been told to continue with “business as usual through Sunday.”
But BLM staff were also sent the contingency plan which in part gives the following instructions: “All furloughed employees will spend up to four hours completing shutdown activities, which include securing facilities, completing personnel and financial processes, notifying external partners and customers of the shutdown, and cancelling meetings/events. Employees will be in a furlough status immediately upon completion of shutdown tasks.”
The Angell Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center north of Yachats, which can house up to 160 students and employs 68 Forest Service staff and contractors, will not be affected by the government shutdown.
“We are funded differently,” a staff member said. “We operate on a program year, not a fiscal year. So we will be open until Congress says differently.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife office at Hatfield was closed Wednesday and about 10 staff were furloughed. The agency oversees several wildlife refuges including Siletz Bay in Lincoln City and Bandon Marsh in Coos County. The refuges remain open to the public, but no staff will be maintaining the trails during the government shutdown.
Employees at NOAA’s Newport offices did not respond to questions about how many stop-work orders they have received but forwarded the department of commerce’s contingency plans. During a shutdown, NOAA research will cease operations, according to the plan. But NOAA workers had about four hours on Wednesday to perform administrative tasks and pack up their belongings before they are furloughed indefinitely.
Why this is happening
When a lapse in funding occurs, U.S. law requires federal agencies to cease activity and furlough “non-excepted” employees. Excepted employees stay on the job but don’t get paid until after the shutdown ends.
While it is the first since 2019, the shutdown is the fourth during President Donald Trump’s two terms.
The U.S. Senate adjourned for the day Wednesday with no resolution on how to reopen the government, the Associated Press reported.
Blame was being cast on all sides on the first day of the shutdown. A vote to end the government shutdown failed earlier Wednesday, as Democrats in the Senate held firm to the party’s demands to fund health care subsidies that President Donald Trump and Republicans refuse to extend, the AP said.
At issue are tax credits that have made health insurance through the Affordable Care Act more affordable for millions of people since the Covid-19 pandemic. The credits are set to expire at the end of the year if Congress doesn’t extend them — which would more than double what subsidized enrollees currently pay for health insurance premiums, according to a KFF analysis.
Senators will return Friday to vote again on a GOP measure to extend federal funding for seven weeks.
Local, state numbers
The Oregon Employment Department said there were roughly 30,000 jobs on federal government payrolls in Oregon last year and that 10,000 federal government jobs could be affected by the shutdown.
In Lincoln County, about 2 percent of the total workforce is comprised of federal workers, according to state figures last spring before the first round of the Trump administration’s terminations and forced retirements.
This spring there were 313 federal employees — 111 under the Department of Agriculture/U.S. Forest Service and 111 with the Department of Commerce/NOAA. The remainder of the local federal workforce was U.S. Postal Service (62), the Department of the Interior (19), the Environmental Protection Agency (9), and the General Services Administration (1).
U.S. Postal Service operations and post offices will operate during their usual hours because the agency is an independent entity funded primarily through revenue from its services, not by taxes.
Food assistance and Social Security payments will not be immediately impacted by the shutdown.
However, approvals for federal grants and loans, such as those administered by the Small Business Administration and Federal Housing Administration, will stall immediately.
During the shutdown, government workers deemed “essential” will continue to punch the clock without pay, while “non-essential” workers are on temporary leave.
Essential services are those that pertain to public safety, national defense and transportation. This means departments like the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency will see little to no changes in staffing.
National parks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency are expected to see significant workforce changes.
- Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org
- Information from the Salem Reporter was included in this report.
