Government shutdown

As the partial government shutdown hit the 35 day mark, how it affected people across the country, including right here at home, becomes a big question.

In Wyoming, there are approximately 5,000 federal workers, including 3,674 non-military employees.

With most furloughed or working without pay, not only did the individual families suffer, Wyoming itself lost about $8.3 million to its economy due to the shutdown.

Healthcare clinics on the Wind River Reservation were shut down. Drilling permits that come from the Bureau of Land Management offices in Buffalo, Casper, Pinedale and Rawlins stopped due to the shut down, slowing oil expansion to a snail’s pace.

Wyoming Food Bank of the Rockies and their mobile pantries throughout the state had to stop as well. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program sponsored by the government was good for distribution through February, but March could be a different story.

The Department of Family Services, which takes care of the SNAP (foodstamp) program, received their payments early for 12,224 Wyoming families, but again, there is no knowing what may have happened to March payments if the shutdown had continued.

Women Infant and Children (WIC), through the Department of Health, reports they were good through March. WIC helps 9,500 families in the State of Wyoming.

In winter, especially, we rely on the weather service to keep us posted about incoming storms. Throughout these 35 days, the folks at the National Weather Service in Riverton continued to work to keep us appraised of the weather, even though they were not getting paid.