National Parks employees face uncertainty amid shutdown fears

Note: This article was originally written in Sept 2023 as a graduate school assignment.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon inside the aptly named Old Stone House in Georgetown, a historical gift shop is bustling with tourists.

Ringing them up is 37 year-old Elizabeth Hawkins, a West Virginia native and Sales Lead at the 250-year old historical site.

The Old Stone House is in the historical register as the oldest standing structure in all of Washington D.C.  It is owned and operated by the National Parks Service (NPS), Hawkins' employer, which is reliant on government funding.

Just that morning, Hawkins' manager texted an urgent message informing her and her colleagues that due to the looming possibility of a government shutdown, the list of potential NPS business closures now include all stores instead of the select few that were previously announced.

The Old Stone House is included in the list of places that will inevitably close in the event of a shutdown, changing Hawkins' day-to-day life entirely.

"My first reaction is... oh, gosh, what's gonna happen? It's basically like a month of paid vacation time, right? Or is this gonna be an 'Oh crap? I'm gonna lose my job eventually' [situation]?" Hawkins said.

The NPS has a reserve set aside for employees to continue being paid during shutdowns despite any store closures. But to Hawkins, this is only a temporary fix to her concerns.

She's been an employee of the National Parks Service (NPS) since 2018, but had already been laid off in 2020 due to those very same reserves running out after an extended period of closure due to the COVID pandemic.

Now, she's worried that the same will happen this year if a shutdown continues for longer than expected.

She is no stranger to unprecedented business closures, but is nontheless worried and frustrated by Congress' inability to reach an agreement on government funding.

She said that conversations with her supervisors about a potential closure have been ongoing for "the past day or so."

"It feels like... getting pulled in several different directions. And it's kind of frustrating, but at the same time, it's just like, well, I have to adapt," Hawkins said between customers. "That's what I keep telling myself. You have to adapt or get lost."

As of today, the Congress successfully passed a bill that secured government funding for 45 days. Although the government is afforded more time to make a deal due to the stopgap being passed, negotiations are still heated and will continue on indefinitely.