South Mississippians brace for possible government shutdown

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (WLOX) - People in South Mississippi are bracing for the impact of a possible government shutdown. If Congress doesn’t reach a budget agreement to keep the government running before the September 30 deadline, National Park services would be forced to shut down.

One of those parks is the Davis Bayou Campground in Ocean Springs. That’s where Marshall Winstead is camping in preparation for Cruisin’ the Coast.

Winstead said he fears that the government shutdown could send them packing.

“There’s a possibility of them evicting us as they put it,” Winstead said. “There will be a campground full of people here that will be inconvenienced by it just because the politicians we have don’t want to do their job.”

Military families would also be impacted. This shutdown will force 1.3 million active-duty troops to work without pay.

“Our military families still have apartment bills to pay, rent mortgages, childcare,” said Sabrina Singh, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary.

A shutdown could cause the shortage of air traffic controllers to get worse. This means over 50,000 employees are required to work without pay.

At the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, unnecessary personnel would have to be furloughed.

Winstead said all he can do is wait and see if he’ll be sent back to his hometown of Bogalusa, Louisiana after the deadline.

“All we can do is just sit and wait, then if they tell us we have to go, I guess will have to go,” he said.

Click here to subscribe to WLOX News on YouTube: Keep up with South Mississippi news, sports, and local events on our YouTube channel!

Copyright 2023 WLOX. All rights reserved.