A break in the stalemate
With deal to end government shutdown, state officials breathing easier — slightly
HARTFORD — State officials felt a little less pressure Friday afternoon after a deal was reached in Washington for a threeweek spending package to put 800,000 federal employees back on the payroll.
Gov. Ned Lamont had recently ordered department heads to report on the financial consequences that a prolonged partial shutdown, already in its fifth week, could have created.
“This is a welcomed reprieve for the federal workers whose lives have been needlessly turned upside down through no fault of their own,” Lamont said in a late-afternoon statement. “In the next 20 days, I encourage everyone to come to the table in good faith to find a way to reopen the government permanently and in a way that best underscores the values of our country and our people. Regardless, our state agencies will continue contingency planning so we’re prepared to support Connecticut federal workers and taxpayers alike.”
In Washington, the Associated Press reported that President Donald J. Trump submitted to mounting pressure and growing disruption, and agreed to the three-week spending deal, backing down, at least temporarily, on his demand that Congress give me money for a southern border wall. Trump signed the bill Friday night.
Standing alone in the Rose Garden on the 35th day of the partial shutdown, Trump said he
would sign legislation funding shuttered agencies until Feb. 15, and try again to persuade lawmakers to appropriate billions of dollars for the wall. The shortterm deal has no funding for the wall.
The lingering political stalemate has intensified delays and cancellations at the nation’s airports, while hundreds of thousands of workers have missed pay checks. Trump hinted that he may still use emergency powers to gain the $5.7 billion he wants for the wall.
“If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shutdown on Feb. 15 again, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency,” Trump said. The Senate approved the deal late Friday afternoon and by early evening, a House vote sent the legislation to the president.
During a Friday news conference, Connecticut’s chief operating officer, Paul Mounds, said Feb. 1 is when the state’s next big payments from the federal government are scheduled. Those payments support the free and reduced-price school lunch program, as well as housing vouchers, Mounds said. “It is affecting every major agency in the state of Connecticut that receives federal funding.”
Mounds had not received all those reports Friday, so he did not know exactly how much money the state might have missed on Feb. 1 if the shutdown continued.
“Thousands of families have needlessly suffered during this shutdown and sadly much of this damage cannot be undone,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven. “I am proud of what Connecticut has done through the legislation enacted this week to help federal employees and their families during this terrible time.”
“Finally reason has won out and the Trump shutdown has ended,” said state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk. “The president has caved after weeks of harming hundreds of thousands of federal workers across this country for no reason. I want to thank all my colleagues in the General Assembly, Governor Lamont, our local banks, numerous nonprofits and food shelters, and so many more who have stepped up to help these families during this difficult government shutdown.”
On Tuesday, the General Asssembly, partnering with more than a dozen state lending institutions, set up a program of no-interest loans, backed by the state, for about 1,400 federal employees who live in Connecticut. It was the first legislation signed into law by Lamont. The Connecticut Bankers Association on Friday estimated that 175 people have applied for the loans.
The record shutdown could have some lasting effects long after it’s over.
“I think that federal employees are now going to always worry about shutdowns,” said Anne S. Evans, director of the Department of Commerce export assistance center in Middletown. “Nobody likes to be worried about their job. We’re very lucky, we’re very fortunate as federal employees that when there’s a shutdown we do eventually get paid… still there’s a lot of people that I’ve talked to that are now worried, that this is always going to hang over them.”
Late Friday afternoon, Evans stressed that the deal is just a deal, “So we’re not actually back to work yet until the president signs it.”
For Evans and her office, the shutdown led to a lot of scrambling, along with the private, nonprofit Connecticut District Export Council, to organize a May summit for space exploration contractors involving five countries; and a February trade mission to Australia.
“The minute that the president signs the bill, I will be on my email, I will be clearing out the several hundred emails that I have,” Evans said. “My guess is that we’re all going to be working some very long days for the next couple of weeks . ... We’ve got companies waiting for services . ... these things are all now backed up for a month.
“And we don’t get paid overtime to catch up.”