COLORADO SPRINGS — With the potential for a government shutdown looming over lawmakers this week, that could mean hard times for military members and their families.
When the government shuts down, there are some employees listed as essential. All military employees are considered essential and will need to show up for work without a paycheck.
Lawmakers in the House have approved 4 bills for debate this week on the floor: Agriculture, Defense, State, and Homeland Security.
"I think if this only lasts for a few days or a week it's probably a manageable impact, you know it could be like days where we have bad weather and people don't go out as much," said UCCS Chair of the Economic Forum Bill Craighead.
Craighead anticipates local spending to go down, as military families would have to cut back on their costs. This also means that they would have to be digging into whatever savings they have.
"The economic impact depends on how much those people are going to be impacted by this, how much they're going to be able to draw into their savings to get themselves through when they get their pay after the shutdown," said Craighead.
Military members would be required to receive backpay once the government is running correctly. However, any military contractors who lost time to the shutdown would not be required backpay.
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