New Mexico leadership concerned about a government shutdown

Around 20,000 New Mexicans who work for the Federal Government are watching D.C. very closely. A shutdown would have detrimental effects on them.

Mayor Tim Keller said he knows how crucial federal dollars are in New Mexico.

President Trump’s border wall proposal is a hot topic of dispute nationwide and will affect whether or not the shutdown happens.

Senator Tom Udall said that a shutdown is bad for New Mexico and the U.S.

“With his latest anti-immigration tantrum, the president is holding government funding hostage, along with the livelihoods of thousands of New Mexicans,” Udall said in a statement. “To force the American public to pay for his obscenely expensive wall. New Mexico farmers, ranchers, small businesses, working families and public lands all would be hurt by a government shutdown.”

Udall isn’t the only senator that is concerned about a shutdown. Senator Martin Heinrich said that a shutdown would not only be pointless but very negative for the New Mexico community.

“This is reckless, wasteful and irresponsible,” Heinrich said in a statement. “New Mexico is home to many federal employees who shouldn’t be held hostage by President Trump’s manufactured crisis.”

Paul Gessing, president of the Rio Grande Foundation, is predicting that there will, in fact, be a shutdown.

"I'll predict that we are going to see a government shutdown. I'm not going to predict how long it's going to last," Gessing said.

Gessing said if there is a shutdown the most noticeable change will be in federal parks.

"People will not be allowed into Carlsbad Caverns," he said.

Additionally, Gessing told KOB that things like social security and military operations will not be interrupted by a shutdown.

However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Homeland Security could be affected.