Federal impasse comes home to roost
Staff writer
A fight among politicians in the District of Columbia might seem a long way away, but fallout is hitting home here.
Signs on the door of the USDA office in Marion announce that the office is closed because of a federal government shutdown.
One person in the agency’s conservation division, Lori Siebert, is doing a limited amount of work from home during the shutdown — work related to required conservation district issues.
“I can take applications for next year’s fund-sharing, but we won’t have any more money until next July,” she said.
Cost-sharing for conservation projects is funded by the state, Siebert said.
“Anybody who is wanting cost share can talk to me about it, and I can answer questions,” Siebert said. “At this point, we can no longer even talk to any current conservation project participants. We are still available for whatever we can do, but we cannot do any Natural Resources Conservation Service stuff.”
Lisa Suderman, who works with Watershed Restoration Protection Strategy services, also is available on a limited basis.
Most of the county is included in two watershed districts: the Marion Reservoir district and the Cottonwood River district.
Besides farm programs, closure of USDA offices is hitting the county in another way. A program that provides infant formula and baby food, along with shopping tips to save money at the food store, has all but come to a halt.
Women, Infants and Children is a nutrition program that provides grocery assistance for approved foods, nutrition and health education, and other services to families with children younger than 5 and income that qualifies for the program.
WIC offers immunization screening and referral, breastfeeding support, and nutrition and health classes on a variety of topics. It operates through county health departments.
Kansas Department of Health and Environment communications director Jill Bronaugh said the agency had received additional money to support WIC operations and contingency food funding. That should allow the program to help local agencies with staffing and continue food benefits through the end of this month.
“If a local agency is at risk for running out of WIC funding for their program and their county is not able to provide contingency funding, they are advised to hold off on WIC office closure until they receive word from KDHE on additional allocations or other extenuating circumstances that could assist their agency,” Bronaugh said. “We encourage WIC recipients to continue their purchasing as usual. We will continue to evaluate options and work with local health departments as we receive more information and guidance from our federal partners.”