As President Donald Trump continues his three-country tour in Asia, the US Senate failed to pass a bill to reopen the government for the 13th time.  The ripple effects of the four-week long federal shutdown continue to reach Guam, even with a stop-gap measure to fund food assistance programs.

As the federal shutdown stretches into its 28th day with no signs of stopping, concern is mounting here on island. Governor Lou Leon Guerrero signed a stop-gap measure that fronts $13.1 million in local funds to continue paying SNAP and WIC benefits through November, but she admits its not sustainable. "We have funding for up to the end of November. Moving forward, we would have to look at if there is possible more funding," she noted. "This is exactly why I was talking about the importance of keeping the BPT at 5 percent instead of decreasing it to 4.5, because of situations like this."

"I don’t know if we can sustain it for more than two months with the funds that we have. But we are looking at those possibilities."

On Wednesday Guam time, the Senate failed to pass a bill to open the government for the 13th time. Leon Guerrero hopes Congress can pass a continuing resolution or pass the federal budget before local funds dry up. She added, "I’m pretty sure the congressmen and congresswomen there are also being pressured because I do know that many of the states are not funding it through their local funds. And so that’s going to affect over 42 or 43 million people."

Meanwhile, KUAM News received concerns that active duty service members may not get their next paycheck Thursday. We reached out to Joint Region Marianas whether defense operations have been impacted as a result of the shutdown, but have not received a response as of newstime. 

The governor could only confirm that reserve personnel are not getting paid. "I read somewhere that President Trump said that the active service people are getting paid, but I have not gotten any direct information, just what I read in the media. I understand that active duty people are being paid. But I also do know that the basic essential federal government employees that are furloughed are not being paid," the governor added.

When asked if such is a major concern for her, she replied, "Of course, people have to survive. They have to pay their bills, they have to pay for food. Absolutely, it’s a concern for us."

In the meantime, its also uncertain how many federal employees on Guam have been furloughed. The governor says no GovGuam employees have been affected, saying, "Of course, many people are furloughed, these are our federal employees that work in civil service. What we have done in our government, we looked at all funding sources that we can shift over to continue employing those people. I don’t think any of our government employees are furloughed as a result of the shutdown."

The governor adds the administration is committed to working together with the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services and the Guam Legislature to continue providing food assistance to Guam families. 

In response to KUAM’s inquiries, Guam National Guard Spokesperson Mark Scott said active Guard Reserve and permanent technicians have been paid, barring any pay errors. e added temporary technicians have not been retained as exempt employees, thus are not working. Drills have been canceled since the shutdown, so part time Drill Weekenders will not be receiving Drill Pay unless it will be paid retroactively.

Scott was unable to confirm whether Guard personnel will be getting their paychecks this week.