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Federal government shutdown continues into next week with no deal

West Virginia to pay to keep national parks functioning short-term

Visitors centers at the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in Southern West Virginia, seen here, and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park will remain open for the next two weeks during the federal government shutdown thanks to a deal brokered by Gov. Patrick Morrisey. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

CHARLESTON — The U.S. Senate voted once again on the clean Republican continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded until November and a Democratic continuing resolution tied to health care subsidies, with both failing.

Meanwhile, West Virginia will keep its two national parks open in a deal.

The U.S. Senate held two votes Friday afternoon, first on the continuing resolution (CR) passed weeks ago by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act. The House CR is a clean continuing resolution aimed at keeping the federal government funded through the first several weeks of the new fiscal year that began Wednesday.

The House CR failed in a 54-44 vote, unable to clear the 60 votes needed for it to be fully considered and avoid a filibuster. A CR supported by the Senate Democratic caucus and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. that tied an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies also failed in a 46-52 vote.

Friday’s votes are the third time this week that the Senate has tried to pass continuing resolutions to keep the federal government funded to Nov. 21 while negotiations continue on long-term appropriations bills. But a CR needed to be passed before midnight Wednesday to avoid a full-on government shutdown.

The next CR votes will not take place again until next week, meaning the federal government will remain shut down, meaning non-essential services will remain closed and workers furloughed. Essential programs – such law enforcement, air traffic control, and the military – will continue, but those employees will go unpaid until a CR is passed, and they can receive backpay.

Both U.S. Sens. Jim Justice and Shelley Moore Capito voted for the House CR. During a Friday afternoon phone call with reporters, Capito criticized her Democratic colleagues for being unwilling to vote for the GOP-sponsored CR despite Republicans being willing to support CR votes under former Democratic President Joe Biden.

“I always vote to keep the government open,” said Capito, R-W.Va., “There are no gimmicks. There’s nothing partisan. It’s quite simply the same almost exact continuing resolution that the Democrats voted 13 times under President Biden over the last four years. So instead, what Senator Schumer and his Schumer shutdown has decided to do is to pull a political maneuver.”

Capito said Schumer’s CR, which includes the extension of the ACA subsidies put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic that are set to expire on Dec. 31, would add an additional $1.5 trillion in spending to the short-term CR. Republicans have said they are willing to negotiate with Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate, but only after a clean CR with no new spending is passed.

“It undoes a lot of what we did for the One Big Beautiful Bill,” Capito said. “It does provide health care opportunities for illegals that are here. They undo what we did…in terms of waste, fraud, and abuse and spends $1.5 trillion. And to me, that’s a nonstarter. So hopefully our Democrat friends on the other side of the aisle will realize that the pain that we’re inflicting on the American people can be solved by putting the government back on the right track for the next seven weeks.”

West Virginia is home to more than 30 federal facilities and approximately 25,900 federal employees. Some of the federal agencies in the state being affected by the shutdown is the National Park Service, which manages several historic trails, scenic rivers, recreation areas, as well as the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve stretching through Summers, Raleigh, and Fayette counties.

However, a deal between the National Parks Service and the State of West Virginia will keep the visitors centers at the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and the New River Gorge National Park open for the next two weeks.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Friday that the state signed a donor agreement with the National Parks Service to keep the visitors centers and services at both parks operational for at least two weeks, making it the first state in the nation to do so.

“West Virginia is America’s playground. And we want to let you know, our National Parks are open and ready for you to visit,” Morrisey said during a press conference Friday afternoon at the New River Gorge National Park Visitors Center near Fayetteville. “I’m pleased to report that not only is West Virginia open in terms of its national parks, we secured the first agreement in the country to open up our national parks – the first state in America to say our national parks are open and the Schumer shutdown will have no effect on our parks here in West Virginia.”

According to the governor’s office, the state will pay nearly $98,000 over a two-week period to operate the parks and visitors’ centers, with the program being re-evaluated should the government shutdown last longer.

“As your governor, I consider it critical – an absolute duty – to protect the people of West Virginia and the national parks and keep our small businesses running,” Morrisey said.

“You all know that October is one of our busiest months,” said Department of Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby. “We’re in the middle of Gauley season. We’ve got Bridge Day just around the corner. This is our fourth busiest month of the entire year. So, I know that everyone here shared in my panic Tuesday night when I saw this was really going to happen and those doors were going to close.

“We had already been in touch with the great team here and the great team at Harpers Ferry,” Ruby continued. “As soon as we heard there was an ability to do these agreements, the Governor said, do it and do it quickly.”

According to the Department of Tourism, the economic impact of tourism in West Virginia was $9.1 billion, exceeding previous records, and supports more than 60,000 jobs. Ruby said the New River Gorge National Park alone brought in more than 200,000 visitors last October, making keeping the park open a priority for the state.

“I’m betting we can beat that this year,” Ruby said. “There’s no better place in the fall to be than right here in Fayetteville. And all those people who are visiting the Mountain State know that.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.

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