Northwest Florida feels impacts from government shutdown

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) - The government is officially shut down after a vote couldn’t be reached to fund the government into the new fiscal year. Much of the gridlock comes from the Democratic Party’s demand to fund health care subsidies that are expiring under the Affordable Health Care Act while Republicans are holding firm against it. Florida Congressman Jimmy Patronis says the impacts of the shutdown will be felt across the state, especially with the military in Northwest Florida

“Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field, Duke Field. Tens of thousands of men and women are being directly affected. More than 5,800 civilian employees, over 5,000 contractors work on these bases, many of them are facing furloughs, are being forced to work without pay,” said Congressman Jimmy Patronis. “The Coast Guard right now is defending our shore without a paycheck.”

The shutdown has also forced public interest areas at NAS Pensacola like the Naval Aviation Museum, the lighthouse and Barrancas National Cemetery to close for the time being. The Gulf Islands National Seashore is also being impacted, and so are the families who were camping at Fort Pickens. Some of whom just arrived yesterday.

“We’re here to celebrate my mom’s birthday which is today, she passed in April so all the family’s getting together to celebrate her birthday,” said Laurel Holley.

Those plans were cut short when campers say they received an email saying they had to leave Fort Pickens by 4:00 this afternoon which sent families into a hurry to pack their things and get out on time.

“We were just blown away that we had just a few hours to leave, said Jennifer Camery. “There were definitely some lines and crowding on the roads to get through. It’s kind of narrow to get back there anyway. There were some people who were way more upset than we were.”

Some were able to find places to stay immediately while others are still trying to figure it out. But everyone hopes the shutdown will end as soon as possible

“There’s a lot of people out of jobs and it’s just an uproar for a lot of people,” said Holley.

“I wish the government would get their act together. I think it’s both sides and it’s time for us to get our act together,” said Camery. “They don’t realize it’s affecting people in a more severe way than we are. This affects everybody across the lines so it’s time for us to get our act together.”