As the government shutdown hits day 15, Virginia ranks sixth among the states most affected due to federal jobs, contract dollars and access to national parks, according to WalletHub.
Governor Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Senator Tim Kaine are calling on Washington to act quickly to protect services and the many Virginians who depend on them. Concerns are growing as the shutdown continues.
Governor Youngkin said essential state services are still operating.
“As of now, we are not seeing interruptions in state services, Medicaid and SNAP and WIC and all the social services that support the many Virginians are, of course, functioning as they should,” Youngkin said. “The longer this goes then we’re gonna end up needing to work harder.”
He added, “I believe the most important step to resolve a government shutdown is for Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats to vote to stop it.”
Senator Kaine emphasized the need for presidential engagement to end the shutdown.
“You get out of a shutdown with a president willing to engage and thus far the president has shown no interest,” Kaine said.
He warned about the consequences of inaction. “We don’t wanna vote for a bill and have the effect of it be that hundreds of thousands of Virginians see dramatic spike in their health insurance premiums and millions of Americans lose their insurance. That’s what’s gonna happen if we don’t find a fix and find it immediately.”
Virginia ranks first in federal contract dollars per capita and fifth in share of federal jobs, making the state especially vulnerable to delays and staffing gaps that ripple through the economy and services.
Both Youngkin and Kaine acknowledged federal staffing gaps and delays caused by the shutdown.
Youngkin said, “The Schumer shutdown does put in jeopardy so many of the critical things that we know we’re gonna need, air traffic control support, of course, our military and we see in our state parks that they’re open, but of course, there’s no staff. The net is that they got to vote to put the government back up.”
Kaine added, “I imagine military families feel the same about it as everyone does, they want to get paid on time, and so do people who work at the EPA and mine inspections or food inspections or safety inspections... they all want to be paid on time and we can do that as long as the president decides to engage.”
For now, essential state services continue, but officials warn a quick federal solution is needed to avoid wider harm to Virginians’ health coverage, federal workers’ pay and federal programs residents rely on.