Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia’s Democratic junior senator and the former governor of the state, said his state is suffering from the government shutdown.
“I got a couple of interesting calls from Chincoteague Virginia, barrier islands off the Eastern shore of Virginia in a very red county on the Eastern shore of Virginia,” Kaine said. “What they were saying is they’re just devastated by the shutdown because it’s a tourism economy, people come to Chincoteague because of the national seashore there so the restaurants, the hotels, the grocery stores, the gas stations, the places that sell the shades, they’re all very devastated by the shutting of the park.”
Kaine also said a NASA facility in the area is mostly shuttered due to furloughs, which have sent 97% of NASA’s employees home on unpaid leave. In just two days, it’s been a blow to their local economy.
“This is in a very red part of the state, you wouldn’t think of it as a place that would be federally connected,” Kaine said. “They’re saying for God sakes’ just reopen government, you can have debate about the Affordable Care Act in the normal way, but reopen government, please.”
Jane Timm