Make no mistake: Donald Trump is responsible for the government shutdown and its impact on Maryland. Maryland, home to 147,000 federal workers, is disproportionately affected by the shutdown. According to one study, in Maryland alone, at least 23,346 workers are furloughed or working without pay — though these estimates likely understate the impact of Trump’s completely avoidable shutdown.

Baltimore Sun: State says hundreds more Marylanders have applied for unemployment insurance related to federal government shutdown

By Jeff Barker

Hundreds more Marylanders are seeking unemployment insurance benefits related to the federal government shutdown, the state said Wednesday as the funding impasse entered its 12th day.

The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said it received 462 such benefit applications from Dec. 22 through Dec. 31. The state previously reported 169 applications from Dec. 22 — the day the funding impasse began — through Dec. 27.

The shutdown is caused by a dispute between President Donald Trump and Congress over whether to fund a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.

Federal workers have expressed growing anxiety as the stalemate persists.

“It’s hard because you don’t know when this thing is going to end,” said Darryl A. Burton Sr., an investigator with the U.S. Postal Service’s inspector general’s office who was furloughed.

“You start curtailing things as simple as putting gas in the car,” said Burton, 57, whose wife regularly drives for Lyft to help the extended Silver Spring family of six make ends meet. “You may want to hold off because you may need those dollars for something else down the road.”

Burton said he had not applied for unemployment benefits but was not ruling out any option to help provide for his family.

The state Department of Labor said it has received unemployment insurance benefit applications from workers at all affected federal agencies, which include the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, State and Treasury.

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