NORFOLK, Va. — A federal government shutdown could take place at midnight next Friday unless Congress somehow reaches a deal to keep federal operations funded, which is looking increasingly unlikely.
If it happens, there will be much pain.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the effects of the 34-day partial shutdown in 2018 and 2019 delayed approximately $18 billion in federal discretionary spending.
The Hampton Roads economy is reliant upon $27.1 billion in direct defense department spending in 2023, according to Old Dominion University's Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy.
Among the local industries that would be most harmed are the region's private shipbuilding and ship repair shipyards, which rely upon consistent, dependable federal funding.
More than 25,000 people work at Newport News Shipbuilding. Four smaller private ship repair yards that work on Navy ships, and the 285 companies that support them, employ more than 60,000 people.
Virginia's two U.S. senators are very concerned.
"It would be awful beyond words," U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said. "There is no good upside for military preparedness, for our Navy's preparedness and for frankly, the bottom line of a lot of family budgets in Hampton Roads of this comes about."
"We are behind right now where we need to be in shipbuilding and ship repair in terms of the pace of production and repairs being done in a timely fashion. That'll get worse in a shutdown," U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine said.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday sent members home for the week. They'd planned to be in session over the weekend to pass a stop-gap bill. This latest move suggests they lack the votes to avoid a shutdown.