(The Center Square) – The Georgia Department of Labor told The Center Square that it has received 272 unemployment claims related to the federal government shutdown.
Georgia has about 110,900 workers who could be affected by the shutdown, the labor department said.
Employees will have to reimburse the federal government for any unemployment benefits they receive if they are given back pay after the shutdown ends.
The shutdown is in its ninth day. Democrats voted against a Republican plan to reopen the government again on Wednesday.
Georgia Democratic U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff voted against reopening the government, saying they want Affordable Care Act subsidies extended before they will vote “yes.”
“The Senate Republican budget is immoral,” Warnock said in a social media post. “It allows health care cuts that will raise monthly costs for millions of Americans. I cannot vote for legislation that allows working people to lose their health care.”
Ossoff said 1.4 million Georgians could see higher premiums if the subsidies expire.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said in a news conference that he is working to find a way to help furloughed workers. He said Congress needs to end the shutdown.
“We have to get them to lock themselves in a room and communicate,” Johnson said. “Certainly we can find a better way to pass a continuing resolution that protects health care, that protects the basic needs of folks in our communities to be able to live and get our government running again.”
The shutdown could soon affect military paychecks.
U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, said unless Republicans gain enough Democratic votes by Oct. 15, roughly 1.3 million active members of the military will not see their next paycheck.
