As US government shuts down, Tacoma mayor warns of ‘significant ripple effects’
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- The federal government shut down Tuesday night amid partisan gridlock on funding.
- Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards warned of ‘significant ripple effects.’
- Federally funded programs and federal employees were at risk, officials said.
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards warned this week of “significant ripple effects” locally if the federal government shutdown that began Tuesday night goes on for an extended period of time.
“A federal shutdown isn’t just a political issue in Washington, D.C.; it has real, tangible consequences right here in our community,” Woodards said in a lengthy statement to The News Tribune on Tuesday evening.
A few hours later, partisan gridlock on keeping the U.S. government funded led to the first shutdown since December 2018. Now, the local concern is for public services at risk and the federal workforce, which maintains a strong presence in Pierce County.
“[A] shutdown fundamentally disrupts the long-standing partnerships between federal and local governments that are essential for service delivery,” Woodards said. “Many of our own City programs and our nonprofit partners operate on a reimbursement basis for federally funded services.”
Woodards said that uncertainty over the availability of federal funds forces city officials to make difficult decisions about scaling back or pausing essential work.
“This creates a perilous dynamic where the social safety net is hit from two ends: at the very moment more of our community members may need support, the capacity of the organizations that provide it — such as those addressing food and housing security — is severely threatened,” she said.
Since federal funding is often paid as reimbursements to local governments or delivered in a lump sum, there might not be an immediate, major impact on local services, according to former Pierce County Council Chair Derek Young, who’s now the interim executive director for the Washington State Association of Counties.
However, a lengthier shutdown, such as the one that lasted longer than a month during President Donald Trump’s first term, “starts getting really disruptive,” Young, who served as a Democratic lawmaker, said in an interview Tuesday.
The biggest concerns would fall within areas of human services and public health, according to Young. He pointed to how nonprofits, which don’t have excess cash to continue operations without federal funding, rely upon federal dollars to execute programs geared toward children, people experiencing homelessness or mental health issues, and others in need.
In a statement this week, the Association of Washington Cities advised cities to continue educating their congressional delegation about federal grant programs that are priorities, such as the Community Development Block Grant Program, which in part helps to address affordable housing for low- to moderate-income residents.
Beyond a delay in federal funding distributions, the association noted that a federal shutdown could also mean temporary closures of national parks and other federal facilities or pauses in federally funded programs and services such as passport processing.
Mandatory programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, are not impacted by a shutdown, according to the association.
“While the City is taking steps to prepare, a prolonged federal government shutdown could have significant ripple effects here in Tacoma,” Woodards said.
Woodards expressed immediate concerns for federal workers, including thousands of civilian and military personnel who report to Joint Base Lewis-McChord. A message left for JBLM’s public affairs office Wednesday was not returned.
“In previous shutdowns, many of our federal and military personnel — essential members of our community — were still required to report for duty without pay, putting added strain on local resources like food banks and emergency assistance programs as families work to keep up with rent, mortgages, and groceries,” Woodards said.
Federal employees were also on Young’s mind when asked what his message would be to his former Pierce County constituents: “A lot of your neighbors are going to be hurting because we have a pretty sizable federal workforce in Western Washington.”
Pierce County leaders were “closely monitoring the shutdown,” county spokesperson Libby Catalinich told The News Tribune on Wednesday.
“We are fortunate that we planned for likely federal funding disruptions with the passage of a $25 million mitigation fund in the supplemental budget,” Catalinich said in a statement. “Any impacts would most likely occur if the shutdown stretched out and created delays in reimbursements.”
The shutdown also could have adverse effects on education, including at the University of Washington, which maintains a campus in Tacoma. Past shutdowns have been particularly acute for individuals and units funded by one or more shuttered federal research agencies, according to university spokesperson Dana Robinson Slote.
“Fellowships could be delayed, time-sensitive research may be disrupted and other projects may be put on hold if certain partners in federal research agencies legally cannot work,” Slote said in a statement. “Furthermore, students, faculty and staff who need to access federal databases or resources for their research or coursework may have that access interrupted.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 10:36 AM.
