Guam braces for impact of federal shutdown

Lou Leon Guerrero

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero today ordered government agencies to prepare contingency plans to mitigate the impact of the federal shutdown resulting from Congress' failure to reach a deal to continue government operations after funding lapses.

While most aspects of federal operations are at a standstill, essential services, such as national defense and emergency response, will continue uninterrupted.

“We have been here before. And like every storm, natural or man-made, we will weather it together," Leon Guerrero said in a statement.

"However, the scope and severity of the impact on Guam’s local government and our community will depend on both the length of the shutdown and the availability of prior-year funding that allows some federal programs to continue operating as normal," she added.

The governor instructed all line agencies to ensure the continuity of critical government functions and minimize disruptions to our personnel.

"As we receive clearer guidance from our federal partners, we will provide timely updates to the people of Guam. At this stage, the situation remains fluid," she said, urging party leaders to seek a bipartisan solution to any crisis that ensues from the U.S. government stoppage.

"The American people, including those of Guam, deserve stability and certainty, not disruption," Leon Guerrero said. "We hope for a swift resolution so that our families, our workers, and our community can be spared the unnecessary hardships that a prolonged shutdown may bring.”

Mark Scott, public affairs officer for the Guam National Guard, said troops on homeland defense missions, such as THAAD security. will continue their missions uninterrupted.

"⁠Full-time support staff, such as Active Guard Reserve and excepted technicians, will continue to work and will receive back pay once funding is resolved,: he added. "⁠Bottom line is that critical services necessary to defend the homeland and respond to natural and manmade disasters will not stop."

Rep. Ed Case of Hawaii said it is hard to predict exactly "where and how this shutdown will affect what, especially under a disruptive and chaotic administration."

Most current essential services and those funded outside the regular appropriations process will continue but that services, projects and grants in the non-essential parts of government will be increasingly curtailed. 

"This is beyond deeply disappointing; it is disgusting. This was completely avoidable, and passing the necessary legislation remains completely doable," Case said in a statement.

"The solution is clearly a bipartisan compromise agreement for the good of the country that continues both overall government funding and literally life-and-death health care assistance to tens of millions of Americans," Case said.