NORFOLK, Va. — The clock could be ticking toward another federal government shutdown.
The conservative House Freedom Caucus said it would oppose a Continuing Resolution to keep the government open.
In a statement, the group said it will vote "no" on any spending measure that fails to include the "Secure the Border Act," addresses what it calls the "weaponization of the Justice Department and FBI," and ends what it describes as "the Left's cancerous woke policies in the Pentagon."
Finally, the caucus says it will oppose "any blank check for Ukraine."
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.
Tidewater Community College Professor Emeritus of Business Administration Peter Shaw said there is no upside to a shutdown.
"If that happens then you're going to have a negative rippling effect in the economy," he said in an interview with 13News Now.
Shaw continued: "If the agency people aren't getting paid, and the contractors aren't getting paid, then that affects their paychecks of the employees who can't spend the money. And then it ripples again into the business community."
The deadline for Fiscal Year 2023's budget to expire is midnight September 30.
According to the House of Representatives Archives, there have been 20 government shutdowns since 1977.