Indiana doesn‘t expect to lose much federal funding to the government shutdown — as long as it doesn‘t drag on too long.
Office of Management and Budget director Chris Atkins says the state has enough cash reserves to keep many programs going for as long as a month before running into trouble. For instance, the way in which the government sends the funding checks for the WIC nutrition program for mothers and young children means there‘s still cash on hand to keep the program going.
Some other federally funded programs, such as the National Guard, are reimbursed after the fact. Atkins says the state will dip into its surplus to put Guardsmen on the state payroll for up to a week, and reevaluate if the shutdown isn‘t resolved by then.
In past shutdowns, the government has made up lost paychecks after the standoff is resolved. Atkins says the state is counting on that happening again.
Atkins says he expects the state economic impact of the shutdown to be “small but manageable,” though he says the state will be monitoring the effect on defense contractors in particular.
Funding for Medicaid, highways, unemployment and education is unaffected.
