VICTORIA, Texas (KLTV) - Economist Dr. Ray Perryman said the government shutdown is impacting East Texans, primarily due to federal employees not getting paid.

“You have there in East Texas for example, 5-or-6,000 federal employees that won’t be getting a paycheck,” Dr. Perryman said.

As a result of not getting paid, he said government workers will not have as much money to spend at local stores and may not travel as often.

“During the shutdown, they’ve just about exhausted the money for food banks that the federal government provides to subsidize the nutrition in the country,” he added. “That can have some very profound impacts.”

Dr. Perryman said the government shutdown is also making it tougher to talk with the federal government, such as signing up for or changing eligibility for M

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