Councilmember Evan Glass Calls for Service Providers to Waive Requirements for Employees During Federal Shutdown
Dear Neighbor:
Like you, I am very concerned with the current federal government shutdown and its impact on our community. There are over 75,000 federal employees living in Montgomery County - which constitutes 13 percent of the residential workforce - and there are 3,500 small businesses that contract with the federal government. These positions range from research employees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), custodians at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, financial analysts at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and system information managers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Regardless of job title, the concern is the same: when will federal employees and contractors get back to work and receive their hard-earned paycheck?
Montgomery County has an array of non-profit partners that have extensive experience helping the most vulnerable among us, which is why I am calling for all Montgomery County agencies and non-profit partners to make their services available for federal employees and contractors during the federal shutdown. I am also asking that our business community and utility companies allow for creative and flexible payment options during this time.
I look forward to working with my colleagues in Rockville to stand up for all County residents impacted by the federal shutdown. I invite you to read more in my press release below and to share any ideas you may have. My office will be compiling a list of providers willing to expand their services and I will be sharing that information with you.
Sincerely,
Evan Glass
MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release
January 10, 2019
Councilmember Evan Glass Calls for Service Providers to Waive Requirements for Employees During Federal Shutdown
Montgomery County, MD – Councilmember Evan Glass (At-Large) is calling on Montgomery County agencies, non-profit partners and business providers to waive their income requirements for federal employees and contractors during the federal government shutdown. Under current guidelines, most service providers require that recipients meet self-sufficiency standards, often below the poverty line.
“I am asking all of our Montgomery County service providers – private and public – to waive their eligibility requirements during President Trump’s prolonged shutdown,” said Councilmember Evan Glass (At-Large). “We have over 75,000 federal employees who call Montgomery County home and who rely on their paychecks to cover the costs for food, housing, child care, and even life-saving medication. This shutdown is hurting federal employees and contractors, their families, and County businesses.”
In addition to workers feeling squeezed by the shutdown, there are over 30,000 households in Montgomery County that depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. SNAP is administered through the Department of Agriculture, which is one of the affected departments.
“We need to proactively protect our residents from the destabilizing effects of what could be a very long ordeal,” Glass said. “The President’s relentless push for a wall, an obvious symbol of division, comes at the expense of my constituents who are left scrambling to know if and when they will receive their next paycheck. There is no end in sight to this shutdown or to how far President Trump will go to push his spiteful policies,” he continued.
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Councilmember Evan Glass was elected to the Montgomery County Council in 2018 as an At-Large Member. He serves on the Transportation and Environment (T&E) Committee and the Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee, where he is the Council’s lead on Homelessness and Vulnerable Communities. Councilmember Glass also serves as the Montgomery County Council’s representative on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ (COG) National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board and the National Association of Counties’ (NACo) Transportation Committee and its Large Urban County Caucus.
Media inquiries: Valeria Carranza at Valeria.Carranza@montgomerycountymd.gov