THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IS ALREADY HURTING IOWA FAMILIES BY SHUTTING DOWN PARTS OF IOWA WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND PARTS OF THE IOWA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC DEFENSE
DES MOINES - AFSCME Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan issued the following statement regarding the effect of the federal government shutdown on state government and Iowa families:
"As a result of the government shutdown, employees of Iowa Workforce Development and the Iowa Department of Public Defense (Iowa National Guard) are being sent home without pay. I am aware of 69 Iowa Workforce Development employees and 111 Iowa Department of Public Defense (Iowa National Guard) employees who are being sent home.
"Iowa Workforce Development employees promote economic growth in our state by assisting workers and businesses. So in addition to the shutdown hurting our Iowa economy by sending these employees home to their families without pay, important services that Iowans rely on are not being performed because of the shutdown caused by an extreme faction of US House Republicans.
"Employees of the Iowa National Guard, both military and civilian, keep our state safe through both their service abroad and their work in defense of Iowa during natural disasters. It is absolutely shameful that they are being treated this way due to the actions of an extreme faction of the Republican Party in the US House of Representatives.
"Some Republicans in the US House are beginning to see that House Republicans' demands are simply not reasonable. Representatives King and Latham should join them. Congressman Latham and Congressman King need to take their jobs seriously and stop supporting their political party's plan that holds the operations of the federal government hostage to unreasonable demands that the American people opposed at the ballot box last November."
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