‘This Is A Crisis Like We’ve Never Seen’: Shutdown Jeopardizes Tribe Members’ Access To Life-Saving Medication
Native American tribes are facing food and drug shortages as the shutdown stretches on. The tribes are hit harder than others because they rely on federal funding for many of their basic services. In other news, the FDA has restarted some food inspections, and lettuce farmers are anxious to have the agency back on the job for growing season.
The Washington Post:
Tribes Face Food And Medicine Crisis As Shutdown Continues, Lawmakers Are Told
As the partial government shutdown drags on, Native American tribes in urban and rural areas are facing food shortages and a health care crisis because federal funds that stock pantries and provide medicine for diabetes and opioid addiction have been cut off, witnesses told a House committee Tuesday. In addition to the shutdown’s impact on indigenous people, citizen observers at national parks are reporting poaching of wild game such as deer, garbage piled high and trees that have been illegally cut as most park workers remain on furlough, former Interior officials who appeared before the committee said. (Fears, 1/15)
MTPR:
Government Shutdown Leads To Program Cuts For Native Americans
Aaron Payment, a board member of the National Congress of American Indians, testified before Democratic members of the House at the D.C. hearing. "This is a crisis like we’ve never seen," said Payment. (Speier, 1/15)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Government Shutdown: Wisconsin's Indian Tribes Feeling Squeeze
The Oneida Nation spends $233,000 annually on its Head Start program, which oversees 152 children at two locations on the reservation. Almost three-fourths of Head Start funding for the Green Bay-area tribe is paid through federal funds — roughly $172,000. But all federal funds flowing to the Oneida and other Wisconsin tribes, as well as Indian tribes across the country, have dried up since the federal government shutdown. (Jones, 1/15)
The Washington Post:
FDA Restarts Some Food, Drug Inspections Halted By Shutdown
Hundreds of Food and Drug Administration inspectors and other staff resumed work Tuesday, focusing on facilities that produce higher-risk foods, drugs and devices, according to the agency’s commissioner. Those workers, who had been furloughed because of the government’s partial shutdown, remain unpaid, said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who discussed the move in tweets and a subsequent interview. About 150 of the returning workers are in food safety. Most are inspectors but some work in laboratories and other areas, Gottlieb said. As many as 250 more employees will be resuming work inspecting drugs and devices. (McGinley, 1/15)
The Washington Post:
U.S. Lettuce Industry, Wary Of E. Coli, Wants FDA Back On The Job
It’s the peak of the leafy greens growing season in Yuma, Ariz., where irrigated valleys are lush and verdant amid cactus-covered mountains. This is America’s Salad Paradise, which produces most of the fall and winter lettuce consumed in the United States. Locals credit excellent soil, preposterously abundant sunshine and a steady supply of labor, thanks to Mexicans with work visas who cross the border checkpoint and ride buses to the fields. (Achenbach, 1/15)
Politico:
States Warn Food Stamp Recipients To Budget Early Benefit Payments Due To Shutdown
State agencies are warning food stamp recipients to carefully budget their grocery purchases once they receive their February benefits weeks earlier than normal due to the partial government shutdown. The Department of Agriculture's backup plan for paying out Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits amid the lapse in funding means it could be 40 days — or longer, in some cases — before additional money is added to recipients' benefit cards. There is also no guarantee about when nearly 39 million low-income Americans will next receive another payment to help them buy groceries. (Bottemiller Evich, 1/15)
KQED:
Bay Area Food Banks Prepare To Help Feed Local Furloughed Federal Workers
Two Bay Area food banks are working to help some of the thousands of federal employees who are not receiving paychecks because of the partial government shutdown. The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank is preparing to provide aid to dozens of U.S. Coast Guard workers and their families in Novato's Hamilton neighborhood, totaling about 400 people, said food bank spokesman Mark Seelig. (Golberg, 1/15)
The Washington Post:
Trump Administration Calling Nearly 50,000 Back To Work, Unpaid, As Shutdown Drags On
The Trump administration on Tuesday said it has called back tens of thousands of federal workers to fulfill key government tasks, including disbursing tax refunds, overseeing flight safety and inspecting the nation’s food and drug supply, as it seeks to blunt the impact of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The nearly 50,000 furloughed federal employees are being brought back to work without pay — part of a group of about 800,000 federal workers who are not receiving paychecks during the shutdown, which is affecting dozens of federal agencies large and small. (Werner, 1/15)
