A major federal facility in Maryland is expected to be shuttered and thousands of D.C.-area employees would work for IOUs, rather than traditional paychecks, if Congress doesn't break its stalemate over funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
A review of agency memos and congressional reports by the News4 I-Team reveals local reductions are expected after Friday, if the U.S. House and Senate don't agree on a new funding plan for the department and its thousands of local employees.
The I-Team has learned more than 1,000 Maryland employees of the Department of Homeland Security are expected to work without regular paychecks, likely to be paid retroactively at a later date, beginning this weekend. Those include 600 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents at BWI-Marshall Airport and 300 U.S. Coast Guard employees, according to congressional sources.
The U.S. Fire Administration, a major Homeland Security agency with headquarters in Frederick County, is expected to be shuttered if an impasse occurs. Employees would be sent home and the gates closed, sources tell the I-Team. Dozens of employees and a large number of training firefighters would be affected.
An official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is headquartered in Southwest D.C., said the agency would be "significantly disrupted" if agency funding is cut off Friday. "The small number of impacted FEMA staff who are exempt from furlough may only provide services that directly apply to the protection of human life, safety or the protection property," a spokeswoman said.
The I-Team's review of agency memos shows FEMA furloughed more than 3,600 employees during the 2013 government shutdown.
Nearly 13,000 Virginians work for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including at the Virginia-based TSA. Congressional staffers tell the I-Team about 10,000 of the commonwealth's federal homeland security employees are likely to remain on the job, without regular paychecks and are likely to be paid retroactively after a funding deal is reached.
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Rep. John Delaney (D-Maryland) said a large number of his constituents will be among those to lose regular paychecks. "This is treating them like a commodity that sometimes you need and sometimes you don't," Delaney said. "It's a bad way for the fed government to set an example for how employers should operate."
