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The government shutdown coincides with the arrival of Halloween in the Witch City.
Salem’s National Park Visitor Center was closed, just when huge crowds eager to see October’s Haunted Happenings began arriving.
“Shutting down everything — people need the services, and nobody’s proving a point,” one man said.
It’s more of the same at the USS Constitution. The oldest commissioned warship sits silently in Charlestown as people from places like Nebraska react to Republicans and Democrats failing to reach a deal on funding the government.
“We showed up yesterday from Kansas City and we thought, oh we’ll get in, and no, it was shut down,” one woman said.
The U.S. government officially shut down at midnight after Congress and the White House failed to reach an agreement on how to extend federal funding.
For Ellen Mei, the stakes are much higher. She is a federal worker in Boston, and president of NTEU, Local 255, and is now out of work.
“I am in an OK financial situation, but for some of my coworkers, where they may be the sole breadwinner with children or they may have parents that they need to care for or just other others in their family,” she said. “Nobody is pleased about having to shut down because it’s always the last thing that we want.”
At the Old North Bridge, federal park rangers have all been furloughed. October is the biggest month for tourism in Concord, prompting the historic town to adjust.
“We will be staffing a temporary visitor center seven days a week, 10 to 3, as long as needed and we’re bringing in portable restrooms,” said Beth Williams, the town’s tourism director.
There are more than 25,000 federal employees in Massachusetts, essential and non-essential.
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John Moroney
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