The ongoing federal government shutdown is now the second longest in history, and Democrats and Republicans in Congress are blaming each other for effects on Nevadans that are growing more apparent daily. 

Food pantries have struggled. Staff members at Nevada’s nuclear security site were furloughed earlier this week. Active-duty military troops missed their first paycheck on Oct. 15, and more missed paychecks are coming for the majority of Nevada’s federal workers on Oct. 28.

This week, the state Department of Human Services announced that food stamp benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will stop flowing to nearly 500,000 Nevadans if the shutdown continues into November.

With no end in sight, the six members of Nevada’s congressional delegation have been active in town halls, press calls and other events blaming their political opponents for the fallout.

Democrats have said they won’t end the shutdown until Republicans negotiate with them on extending expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, which lower health care costs for about 22 million Americans. Republicans say they won’t negotiate on subsidies until Democrats reopen the government.

Here’s what members of the delegation have said so far on the biggest uncertainties surrounding SNAP, health care and federal workers.

SNAP

On Friday, Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) sent a letter cosigned by Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV) and Susie Lee (D-NV) to Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo urging him to do “everything in his power” — including calling for a special session — to mitigate harmful impacts of the government shutdown on Nevadans who receive SNAP benefits. 

Horsford, who also held a media event at a food pantry in Las Vegas on Friday, in the letter called the shutdown “political gamesmanship” and pressured Lombardo by stating, “whether through official actions or by simply picking up the phone and telling his fellow Republicans to end this cruelty, the Governor must act.”

Lombardo’s office said on Wednesday that they had briefed the delegation on ongoing effects of the shutdown on the state, and that the state could not backfill SNAP funding with state or emergency fund dollars without setting up an emergency program with a vendor, a process that could take months.

He said in a statement that it’s “well past time for Democratic leadership in Congress to work with Republicans and the President to reopen the government.”

At a town hall event in Las Vegas hosted by Titus on Thursday, Annette Magnus-Marquart, a lobbyist and organizer at progressive advocacy group MomsRising, shared some of the real-life impacts of the shutdown. 

“Members tell us that they’re worried about needing to ration formula or skip meals so their kids can eat. Families are already struggling with sky high food costs. This is an emergency, and it's unacceptable that our government is playing with people’s lives like this,” she said.

Titus said during the town hall that the state has taken steps to continue funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which provides vouchers for nutritional foods to low-income pregnant women and mothers of children younger than 5. The same cannot be done with SNAP, she said, as it is structured differently.

“You can’t backfill that with state monies,” Titus said. “When it’s out, it’s out. That’s why you’re going to be seeing a special session of the Legislature for them to figure out how they’re going to deal with all these cuts. Fifteen percent of the population in Nevada are suddenly going to be without that nutritional care, so the numbers are dramatic.”

Health care

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) argued in a Wednesday press call that “tens of thousands of people are at risk of losing their health insurance because Washington Republicans refuse to act.” Her comments came shortly after Lombardo wrote his own letter to Rosen urging her to join Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) in voting to end the shutdown, writing that it’s “critical that we come together — regardless of party — to keep our government open and serving the public.”

Rosen shared her response to the letter during the call.

“I would tell Governor Lombardo this: Where was he? He was silent when the big, beautiful bill that President Trump signed into law cut $19 million from SNAP,” she said. “Where was Governor Lombardo when he knew the cuts to Medicaid are going to close our rural clinics, hurt our health care all across our great state?”

Rosen mentioned the upcoming open enrollment deadline for marketplace health insurance plans in her press call, citing a study by health policy organization KFF that found that monthly insurance premiums would more than double for the average American if the ACA’s enhanced tax subsidies expire. 

The expiration of the subsidies is expected to increase monthly premiums for Nevadans enrolled through the public marketplace by $76 on average. 

Lee held a virtual roundtable on Friday about rising health care costs amid a looming expiration of ACA tax credits. The roundtable featured speakers who have felt the fiscal impacts of the shutdown, including health care workers, parents and community members. 

Anna Marie Binder, chair of the Nevada Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities and mother to children with disabilities, shared personal stories as to how the ACA helped lower her child’s medicine costs from $800 a month to $150. She said if her health care bills were to increase again, it would be devastating to her family.

Another mother on the call, Heather Doto, said, “If I lose my insurance, I would prioritize my children’s health over my own despite my daily medications needed for chronic illness. For families like mine, these cuts are not abstract.”

Lee said that the longer this shutdown rolls on, the harder it will be for the state to keep up.

“Lombardo is dealing with an administration who wants to inflict the most amount of pain on the Americans who can afford it the least,” Lee said. “I hope Lombardo would use his role to make it clear that Republicans need to fix ACA tax credits and the state isn’t left holding the bag to fix these issues.”

Federal workers

The sole Republican in Nevada’s congressional caucus, Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), has praised Cortez Masto for her votes with Republicans and accused Democrats of deliberately refusing to end the shutdown. 

In a statement to The Indy, Amodei spokesperson Carrie Kwarcinski wrote that Democrats were “holding the government hostage.” On Oct. 7, the Federal Aviation Administration included Las Vegas on a list of U.S. cities that did not have enough air traffic controllers working.

Kwarcinski did not explicitly respond to The Indy’s question as to whether Amodei supports bringing back the House to pay air traffic controllers who are forced to work during the shutdown without pay, a move that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has described as “a waste of our time” as Senate Democrats would likely block it.

Kwarcinski, wrote in a statement that “the Congressman supports pay for federal workers. The best way to ensure air traffic controllers and all federal workers are paid is to reopen the government.”

Votes could come next week in the Senate on separate bills to pay members of the military and air traffic controllers.

Despite voting for Republicans’ funding bills throughout the shutdown, in the most recent vote to pay federal workers, Cortez Masto voted against legislation from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

The office of Sen. Cortez Masto provided a statement saying that the legislation would only cover “excepted” federal workers, leaving furloughed workers and federal contractors without pay for the duration of the shutdown. 

“Senator Johnson’s bill wasn't a real solution — it was a political attempt to give Donald Trump and Russ Vought the power to pick and choose which federal workers are paid," Cortez Masto said in a statement to The Nevada Independent.Cortez Masto supports Sen. Gary Peters’ (D-MI) legislation, which would ensure all federal workers and contractors, regardless of furlough status, get paid.