Tennessee: Partial federal shutdown impact so far
› 6,700 federal workers in Tennessee furloughed or working without pay.› 3,100 employees with U.S. Treasury Department/Internal Revenue Service. A number of employees have been called back to work without pay to help process IRS tax refunds.› 1,000 employees with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including the Farm Service Agency state office in Nashville and 59 county offices across the state that facilitate new assistance programs, as well as Food Safety and Inspection Service and Rural Development, which offers loans and grants to help create jobs and support economic development in rural communities.› 980 Transportation Security Agency and Federal Aviation Administration employees at the state’s five commercial airports. All are working without pay.› 600 Interior Department employees, many of them furloughed. The list includes National Park employees operating Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park; Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement, which protects environment and public health from the adverse effects of coal mining operations.› 200 employees with the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville.› 130 employees at the federal correction institution in Memphis.› Tennessee’s 560,000 small businesses unable to receive guaranteed loans and technical assistance from the Small Business Administration state office in Nashville.Source: Center for American Progress estimates provided by U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn.
NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who took office Saturday, is eyeing potential impacts in the state stemming from the partial federal government shutdown.
“We’re monitoring that, particularly around services like food stamps, to try and be certain that we notify recipients so that benefits come as soon as possible,” Lee told reporters Tuesday after meeting with his 23-member cabinet for the first time since taking office.
The governor said he remains “hopeful that the federal government will resolve this situation soon. But in the meantime, we will just follow it and ask each agency to give us information on how it might impact them and when.”
The standoff between President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats over the president’s demands for $5.7 billion for a border wall and security is now in its 33rd day.