Possible Federal Shutdown Will Have Wide-Ranging Effects on Montgomery County

Update: At literally the 11th hour, the Federal Government will not go into a shutdown

Original story:

As time runs out on the midnight deadline before the Federal Goverment is shut down, the wider impact on the region is starting to reverberate.

Montgomery County is home to 79,158 federal employees, the majority of which would not be allowed to go to work, starting Saturday, if the government is shut down. 

Civilian federal employees in Montgomery received $3.89 million in salaries and wages in 2009, according to the Consolidated Federal Funds Report. Lost wages due to a shutdown would also mean lower tax revenue collected by Maryland and Montgomery County.

Commuters spoke to Patch this morning .

Later in the day, Gov. Martin O’Malley lashed out at Congressional Republicans using strong, partisan words in a statement  around 4 p.m. about the prospect of a federal government shutdown.

“Maryland is home to thousands of federal civil servants—moms and dads who will go without pay because Speaker Boehner and the Republicans have chosen to wage an ideological war instead of putting the interests of their nation first.”

Employees of some D.C. agencies will also be furloughed,  most notably the trash collection services inside the city. Volunteer stream clean-up events schedule for Rock Creek Park inside the District will be cancelled tomorrow morning as the Park is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Parks system.

"FORCE has over 50 cleanups slated for tomorrow. If the federal government closes, our volunteers in the District will not be permitted to work on 24 sites in national parkland and local communities," Beth Mullin, a representative of FORCE said in an email.

Cleanups in Montgomery County, like in Wheaton Claridge Park, will continue, as they are managed by the State of Maryland.

The Metro will continue , but will possibly limit the number of cars per train if ridership drops.