Local effects of the federal government shutdown explored

Most of the federal government shutdown at midnight on Friday, before reopening on Monday night, raising the question of how our local-area federal agencies were affected, and how they would be affected in the event of another shutdown.

Lynne Brougher, public affairs officer of the Grand Coulee Power Office for the Bureau of Reclamation, said that the Grand Coulee Dam is not affected by a shutdown.

“Because the majority of our funding for Grand Coulee Dam is not congressionally appropriated, a government shutdown does not impact Grand Coulee Dam,” Brougher said. “There are other Reclamation facilities that are funded by congressional appropriations and they only maintain essential personnel during a shutdown.”

The National Parks Service is responsible for Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, including Spring Canyon.

“We keep essential personnel on, like rangers,” said Dan Foster, superintendent of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation area, about protocol for a government shutdown, adding that during a shutdown people can still go to Spring Canyon or use boat launches along the lake, but that there will be no services available.

This contrasts with the 2013 government shutdown in which road barricades were placed at the entrance to Spring Canyon and the road leading to Crescent Bay, and boat launches were inaccessible. Foster stressed that this isn’t the case now.

“The different administration has a different interpretation of the rules and regulations,” he said. “We’re just following our direction.”

In 2013, 401 National Parks closed nationwide, including Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, during the government shutdown of that year.

The United States Post Office is a completely self sustaining service, bringing in their own money, and is not affected by a shutdown.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is another prominent federal agency present in our area, and has a contingency plan that outlines the protocol in case of a shutdown to maintain essential operations as well as the numbers of essential personnel that will stay on during a shutdown.

The BIA provides services to more than 1.9 million enrolled members from 567 recognized tribes, including members of the Colville Tribes.

According to the contingency plan, BIA services include “social services, natural resources management, economic development, law enforcement and detention services, administration of tribal courts, implementation of land and water claim settlements, replacement and repair of schools, repair and maintenance of roads and bridges, repair of structural deficiencies on high hazard dams, and land consolidation activities.”

The weekend’s shutdown stemmed from the inability of Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and President Trump, to come to an agreement with one another on immigration issues such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which protects people who entered the country illegally as children, and Trump’s plan for a wall along the Mexican/U.S. border.

The Senate voted 81-18 to end the shutdown on Monday, funding the government an additional three weeks with a promise from the Republican majority leader in the Senate to address DACA.