NORFOLK, Va. — For the second time this year, the U.S. government is preparing for another potential shutdown as lawmakers play tug-of-war on the spending bill.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) called the looming shutdown "Groundhog day," saying the arguments between the House and the Senate over funding Ukraine and Israel verses the border are distracting lawmakers from the goal.
"We [Virginia] get slammed the worst in government shutdowns. We get slammed even on continuing resolutions," Warner said. "We don't need politics now. We need people who will do their job."
Despite lawmakers passing a temporary spending bill in early October to avert a shutdown, the now November 17th deadline is quickly approaching. With Hampton Roads tied to 40% of federal funding, state leaders are racing against the clock.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) blamed the drama over choosing a new House Speaker for delaying their efforts to reach a deal -- saying his hopes for a resolution are dwindling by the day. He said the timeline needs to change in order for Congressional leaders to avoid a shutdown.
"Part of the problem here is we have the wrong fiscal year. We have a fiscal year that ends on September 30. There's not really a forcing mechanism that gets us a deal by September 30. Instead, we get the deals done at the end of the year before Christmas," Sen. Kaine said. "The fact that we lost three weeks in that dramatically shortened period from September 30 to November 17 means we are not going to get the job done by November 17. We should just do what we've done in the past. We should extend the CR until the end of the calendar year... and then we're going to have a tough, tough budget negotiation."
If a shutdown were to occur, we'd quickly see programs like the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program halted as well as thousands of federal employees across Virginia having to go to work without pay.
However, a shutdown would also create a domino effect for programs on which our communities in Hampton Roads depend.
Thaler McCormick is the CEO of ForKids in Norfolk, a nonprofit serving children and their families who are experiencing homelessness across the region.
"The longer they go without passing a budget, the more at risk big programs are for non-renewal," McCormick said. "Right here in Hampton Roads, we have millions of dollars that will be held up directly from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that are here to help homeless families, and that's a really important safety net for us to have."
With budget negotiations hitting brick wall after brick wall on the Congressional floor, McCormick said her organization is already feeling the impacts of federal funding withheld from vital resources to help children in the area.
"What is being held up here at ForKids is our after-school remediation programs and these are targeting kids that are specifically a year to three years behind in school," McCormick explained. "So, we have a $170,000 for remediation that is in that budget package and is waiting for it to be approved."
In addition to the grant approval process slowed down because of the negotiations, keeping McCormick waiting on her reimbursement efforts, she said her program's call center also saw a 25% increase in calls October of this year compared to last year.
McCormick said she and her team are now working to ensure they can keep their programs running smoothly.
Food banks are also preparing to help people in need as they wait for Congress to find a resolution.