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The NASA Ames Research Center was preparing this week to furlough nearly all its employees and close down most operations with the federal government shutdown that began Dec. 22.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park and Mountain View has also been shut down. Only a small number of the agency’s employees nationwide have been permitted to work to keep key safety operations running, according to the Department of the Interior website.
With the budget impasse in Congress unresolved, NASA officials expect to furlough nearly 17,000 employees and contractors across the space agency’s facilities. At the Ames Research Park near Mountain View, this would mean just under 1,200 workers would be put on unpaid leave.
An updated NASA shutdown memo drafted earlier this week notes that a baseline of staff would be kept on hand to monitor critical functions involving space operations and security. About 44 employees would remain on the job at Ames, according to the work plan.
The shutdown would also result in the Ames Research Park closing down all tours and public access. NASA educational support would cease at local schools, and the agency’s television and web site could also go offline, according to the report.
U.S. Geological Survey impacts
During a similar threat of government shutdown earlier this year, the USGS reported it would need to furlough about 500 employees from the Menlo Park and Moffett Field campuses. USGS spokeswoman Catherine Puckett said in an email Dec. 26 that she has been “prohibited from conducting work as a Federal employee, including returning phone calls and emails, until further notice.”
According to the Department of the Interior, the USGS planned to suspend everything but activities needed to “protect life and property.” The survey planned to permit 75 of its 8,032 employees nationwide to work as needed, mainly to operate the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) in Colorado and the Earth Resources Observation and Science Center (EROS) in South Dakota. Up to 450 employees would remain on call in case of natural disasters or spacecraft emergencies.
Other impacts
The shutdown is expected to close federally run parks; however, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area announced Saturday morning, Dec. 22, that sites such as Alcatraz Island and Crissy Field would remain open.
More than 800,000 federal employees in charge of nonessential services nationwide could be affected by the furloughs. Postal service, airport security, military and emergency personnel will continue to work. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid functions are all expected to stay open, according to reports.
The experience of bringing federal services to a grinding half has become all too familiar in recent years. As recently as January, a similar budget impasse centered on immigration policy led to a three-day government shutdown.
In 2013, a budget feud over austerity measures caused a shutdown that lasted about two and a half weeks.The full cost to the national economy was estimated to be $24 billion, according to Standard & Poor.
Kate Bradshaw contributed to this report.
