MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Funding for the federal government has been halted for the third week during a budget impasse.
According to a report by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, there were more than 22,900 federal employees in the state as recently as March of this year. The report said 15,844 of those hail from the Eastern Panhandle.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey spoke to WEPM Radio in Martinsburg back on Friday at an economic development summit in Martinsburg. He said the shutdown has to come to an end.
“The Eastern Panhandle has an impact in terms of people not getting paid. I would like to see it get resolved,” Morrisey said.
Not every federal employee in the state is being furloughed. But a WalletHub study said that West Virginia is the 7th most impacted state in terms of federal jobs. Only five states have a higher percentage of federal jobs than West Virginia, according to the report.
An estimated 15% of the state’s population could be impacted by cuts to the SNAP program that could happen in November.
Asked how the state could lessen the impact of furloughs and other economic fallout from the federal shutdown, Morrisey said West Virginia is limited in its ability to fill in dollars for all those affected:
“Obviously, with the National Parks we were able to weigh-in and be a real difference maker. The state’s obviously not in a position to come in and supplement everything the (federal government) has done, that’s not going to work,” Morrisey said.
Morrisey said the answer is to stop what he called the ‘Schumer Shutdown’ after U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“I urge everyone to come to this table and end this nonsense,” Morrisey said. “We need to get Schumer to the table. He’s been very unreasonable in his negotiations. I want to make sure we are standing with President Trump on this.”