BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. () — The federal government is still in full shutdown, with Democrats and Republicans still not able to reach an agreement on funding the government.

News 3 spoke with South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace about the current shutdown and where the two parties lie currently.

“Democrats are literally willing to give free health care to illegals rather than pay our troops. That is a fact. And that’s what’s happening right now,” said Mace.

Mace explained that Democrats are holding up the vote but South Carolina Democratic Representative James Clyburn, who was unavailable for comment Sunday, recently stated in an X post that those are false claims.  

“Republicans are lying about the shutdown because they’re desperate to distract from Trump’s bill and reduced ACA tax credits, stripping healthcare from 15 million and substantially increasing premiums for millions more,” he posted. “They want you to ignore this looming healthcare crisis.”

But no matter where the finger is pointed, the current shutdown is impacting millions across the country, including federal government employees in the Lowcountry and Coastal Empire.

“They both need to get together and figure this thing out so that we can go on and have a good democracy, and it’s not impacting people lives and businesses and things like that,” said University of South Carolina – Beaufort (USCB) Political Science Professor and Army Veteran, Kevin Dopf, PhD.

Dopf explained that impacts would especially be felt in our area the longer the shutdown continues.

“In the Lowcountry we have a lot of federal employees, military and civilians,” said Dopf. “More so than most areas.”

Beaufort Marine Corp Air Station, Parris Island, and even military bases in Georgia like, the Hunter Army Airfield and Ft. Stewart, have all delayed pay to federal employees during the shutdown.

Dopf said impacts look to be minimal right now but if the shutdown continues we could see larger effects.

“This could start to be really bad because then you’re going to have thousands and thousands, you know, 100,000 people not getting paid in Beaufort County next week,” said Dopf. “We won’t have any money coming in to pay the rent, to pay for groceries, to pay for the needs, you know, school supplies for their children.”

Not only could an extended shutdown impact military families on delayed pay but it could begin to trickle into businesses who rely on military and civilians to spend money.

“It’ll be like a domino effect,” said Dopf. “The longer it goes, the more businesses will be affected because then they won’t get the income, and they may not be able to pay their bills. So that’ll affect something else, you know, affect everyone’s bottom line, especially in our area where we’re heavily dependent on federal and military personnel.”