Congress votes to keep government open; Wright-Patterson was preparing for shutdown

It looks like government shutdown will be avoided, but Air Force was preparing just in case

UPDATE: 4-28 12:10 p.m.: With just hours to spare, Congress easily approved a short-term spending bill Friday that would prevent a partial federal shutdown over the weekend. But on President Donald Trump's 99th day in office, lawmakers were leaving until next week without completing two other measures he's coveted: A Republican health care overhaul and a budget financing government for the entire year.  The Senate sent the temporary spending measure to Trump by voice vote after the House approved it by a lopsided 382-30 vote. The bill keeps the government functioning through next Friday, which leaders hope will give bipartisan bargainers enough time to finish a $1 trillion package financing government through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

UPDATE 4-28 11:30 a.m.: House members have easily voted to approve a short-term spending bill that would avoid a partial government shutdown at midnight.

The measure gives negotiators until next Friday to resolve final differences over a $1 trillion bill financing federal agencies through Sept. 30. That's the end of the current fiscal year.

While the vote was not over, the chamber was on track to overwhelmingly to approve the weeklong measure and send it to the Senate. Senators are expected to approve it and ship it to President Donald Trump for his signature in time for federal facilities to continue to operate.

Significantly, Congress did not vote Friday on a revised Republican health care bill that has stalled because it lacks needed votes. The White House was hoping the House would approve the bill by Saturday, Trump's 100th day in office.

EARLIER STORY: Thousands of federal workers in the Miami Valley have high stakes in congressional lawmakers' attempts to reach a budget deal to avert a partial federal government shutdown at midnight Friday.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base spokesman Daryl Mayer said the Air Force has started to prepare for the possibility of a government shutdown, but no details were immediately available Wednesday.

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, which attracts about a million visitors a year, reported the world’s largest military aviation museum will close Saturday if federal funding expires Friday and until new funding is appropriated, according to spokesman Rob Bardua.

‘Tired’ and ‘Fed up’

A labor union leader who represents thousands of workers at Wright-Patterson said members are “tired” of repeated talk of pending government shutdowns for several years running. The last one to hit Wright-Patterson struck in October 2013, when much of the federal government shutdown for 16 days.

Several times since then federal lawmakers have reached last-minute deals to avert another shutdown.

“I think they’re just about fed up with it,” said Troy Tingey, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 214. “We’ve got people who don’t think the government is a guaranteed-type position. More and more they seem to look for private sector work.. … You just never know what’s going to happen from one day to the next.”

In a repetition that has grown familiar under two administrations, Congress and the White House have failed so far to reach a $1 trillion budget deal. Part of the money would fund the Department of Defense.

RELATED: Shutdown deadline nears — again

A stop-gap funding measure called a continuing resolution has kept dollars flowing at last year’s spending levels until all sides agree to a budget compromise. Without one, the resolution expires Friday, shutting the government down without another stop-gap measure or a budget in place. News reports Wednesday indicated Congress may extend funding another week to work out a budget deal through September.

Wright-Patterson, which employs more people at one work site than any other in Ohio, has 13,000 civil service workers, or nearly half the workforce at the base.

While Congress has indicated it would prevent a shutdown, the Air Force has taken steps to prepare for the “unlikely scenario” should it happen, Mayer said.

“While military personnel would not be impacted by the shutdown, a lapse in appropriations would further impede our ongoing efforts to restore readiness and modernize to meet rapidly evolving global threats,” Mayer said in an email.

Many of those civilian government workers faced a government shutdown more than three years ago coming off a furlough of six days during the prior summer.

Then, the impact was widespread.

RELATED: Unsettling government layoffs affecting thousands in region

An estimated 8,700 civil service workers were sent home. They were in every corner of the base, from the Air Force Materiel Command, which oversees purchases of major weapon systems, to the Air Force Reserve 445th Airlift Wing, which flies C-17 Globemaster III troop transport and cargo missions around the world.

At the time, base officials estimated with so many off the job lost wages added up to $2.1 million a day, with a multiplier effect of a $5 million economic impact in the region each day of the shutdown.

The Dayton VA Medical Center says its funding is appropriated a year in advance and it does not anticipate it would not be impacted by a shutdown, according to spokesman Ted Froats.

Threat receding?

Even so, a senior defense analyst who closely follows congressional legislation says “the danger of a government shutdown is receding” because President Donald Trump has reportedly backed off insistence on funding for a border wall with Mexico, one of Trump’s main campaign promises and a measure Democratic leaders vowed to fight.

The military has asked for $30 billion in additional funding to bulk up readiness and shore up defenses.

“However, it doesn’t look like the military will be getting the kind of budget increase in the current year that the White House proposed,” Loren B. Thompson, an Arlington, Va.-based Lexington Institute senior defense analyst, said in an email.

“The problem is that the way the White House proposed the increase requires Congress to remove budget caps currently in law — a move that must have at least 60 votes in the Senate,” he added. “By seeking to fund the defense increase with domestic cuts, the White House budget office has taken away any incentive for Democrats to support changing the law.”

Republicans control 52 seats in the chamber, less than the Republican administration would need to overcome Democrats opposition.

Michael Gessel, Dayton Development Coalition vice president of federal programs, said the chances of a funding extension or deal were strong if roadblocks such as funding for Trump’s border wall and federal health care subsidies for the Affordable Care Act are resolved.

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By the numbers

Congress is working on a funding deal to avoid a federal government shutdown when a stop-gap funding measure expires Friday.

Here’s a look at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the largest single site employer in Ohio, which would be impacted in a shutdown.

Number of employees furloughed in October 2013 government shutdown: 8,700

Total number of personnel: 27,000 (estimated)

Regional economic impact: More than $4 billion

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