How a government shutdown would affect Pennsylvania

ACA tax credits are at the center of government shutdown conversations. Up to 270,000 Pennsylvanians are at risk of losing Pennie coverage with skyrocketing premiums. 

Pennsylvanians alongside the rest of the country are watching Democrats in Congress to see if they will shut down the federal government in the coming days or manage a spending package that extends tax credits from the Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA), which are set to expire at the end of the year. 

While Republicans have no desire to extend the credits, they need Democrat votes to pass a spending measure and keep the government running. Democrats, as a result, are hoping to leverage the health credits. 

“We are staring down a health care crisis as Donald Trump and Republicans drive up premiums by thousands of dollars and rip coverage away from millions of Americans,” US Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Philadelphia) said in a statement.

He added, “Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House — and they are threatening to shut down the government unless they can carry out their ruthless plot to steal Pennsylvanians’ health care. If they force a shutdown over this, the blame will rest squarely with them.”

Over 250,000 Pennsylvanians who purchase their health insurance through Pennie, the state’s health care marketplace established by the ACA, are at risk of losing their health care because of higher monthly premiums. 

Congressional Democrats are floating the possibility of a government shutdown as a way to force Republicans to the table on ACA tax credits, but not everyone is on board. 

Home care workers are calling on US Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) to work with Democrats and extend the ACA tax credits, but he has stated that he’s against a shutdown. 

“I would love to restore a lot of those health care [tax credits]. That’s the right outcome, but that’s a dangerous tactic if you are going to shut the government down for one of our policies,” Fetterman said during a recent CNN interview. 

“I think it’s the right thing to extend those healthcare and things, but it is absolutely the wrong reason, the wrong thing for a lot of reasons that we’re going to shut our government down.”

Congress has until Sept. 30 to stave off a shutdown. Here’s a quick rundown of who or what will be affected by a shutdown.

Who will be affected? 

Pennsylvania is home to more than 100,000 federal civilian employees, which accounts for 1.6% of nonfarming jobs in the commonwealth. 

According to the Partnership for Public Service, federal workers fall into three categories during a government shutdown,  including: those who are required to work and are still paid through means other than annual appropriations; those who are furloughed; and those who are required to work but won’t get paid until the end of the shutdown. 

Furloughed federal employees are required by law to receive lost compensation once a shutdown ends, and they are eligible to receive unemployment compensation through the commonwealth’s Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. 

The US Postal Service will remain open in the event of a government shutdown. Those who collect Social Security will still receive their checks, and Medicaid and Medicare offices are expected to operate normally during a shutdown. 

Looking to Travel? 

Philadelphia International Airport is always rated as one of the worst airports in the country to fly in or out of, and getting to your final destination may be that much harder in the event of a shutdown. 

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees and air traffic controllers are deemed essential employees and would be required to work without pay, causing a strain on air travel. 

Travelers were faced with longer layovers and delays during the 2018-2019 government shutdown due to TSA employees or air traffic controllers calling out sick.   

Education 

Major universities and hospitals in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia saw major cuts to scientific research programs after Trump returned to power in January, and they could see their funding frozen during the duration of a shutdown, putting a halt to important research.

Visiting a national park or historic site?

Visitors looking to take pictures with the Liberty Bell or taking a tour of Gettysburg’s battlefields may be turned away in the event of a shutdown.

The National Park Service rejected millions of visitors during the 2010 government shutdown, but remained open with limited operations during the 2018 shutdown. 

It’s still up in the air whether Pennsylvania’s historic sites will remain open in the event of a shutdown. 

Delay in critical services

Funding for important programs such as Head Start, which helps support early childhood education for lower-income families, and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, which provides assistance for pregnant women and mothers, may delay reimbursements to different state agencies and jeopardize the benefits for thousands of families across the state.