DES MOINES - AFSCME Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan issued the following statement regarding the looming government shutdown:
"A federal government shutdown will hurt Iowa families. A shutdown will lead to delays in military pay, unpaid furloughs of up to 9,000 federal employees in Iowa, and a delay in small business loans in Iowa. With many federal agencies still working though the details of a shutdown, a shutdown could also prevent new seniors from receiving Social Security checks, delay veterans benefits, and close Head Start centers that educate 8,133 children in Iowa.
"Federal funding plays a key role in many aspects of state and local government operations, especially the Iowa National Guard. While the exact impacts of a shutdown on state and local governments in Iowa are not yet completely clear, a shutdown will undoubtedly harm public employees and their families and harm all Iowa communities which rely on the public services those employees provide.
"A government shutdown will seriously harm our state and national economies. 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."
A fact sheet on how a federal government shutdown would hurt Iowa follows this press release.
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