AUGUSTA — Maine Gov. Paul LePage says that a short-term federal government shutdown will not directly impact state government or public assistance programs.

The Republican governor said in a statement on Tuesday that while some state government positions and programs are federally funded, they’ll continue as normal this week.

He says the shutdown won’t affect school funding, state-run public assistance programs or agencies like the environmental department. But he says that an extended shutdown could hurt some agencies.

LePage called the shutdown a “failure of leadership in Washington, D.C.”

The shutdown has caused the closing of Maine’s Acadia National Park during a popular tourist season. The head of the biggest union at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard has also said that an estimated 2,000 workers were furloughed Tuesday.

Comments are no longer available on this story

filed under: