In the nation’s most impoverished large city, San Antonio leaders have long known that federal spending cuts would eventually rock their community’s world, potentially leaving cash-strapped local governments scrambling to pick up the bill.

Now a federal government shutdown aimed at forcing tough conversations on such cuts — like whether to continue health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year — is bringing that fiscal cliff closer to reality.

As of Wednesday, when the government shut down at 12:01 a.m., the full impact of the Trump Administration’s planned cuts to social safety-net type programs like Medicaid and food stamps still have yet to be felt.

Congress hasn’t been able to pass a spending bill since the new administration took office, and stopgap spending measures have so far continued popular programs that the administration planned to gut.

Rather than keep that going — something congressional Republicans hope could offer time to soften unpopular cuts before the 2026 midterm election — Democrats want to have that fight now, and are using their limited leverage to do so.

Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White House, but a stopgap measure needs 60 votes in the U.S. Senate, where they only control a narrow majority of 53 seats.

“From the first day the administration came in, they started holding back funds that we had already appropriated … [Then] they passed what they call the Big Beautiful Bill, where they’re going to be cutting over a trillion dollars from Medicaid,” U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo), who serves on the House Appropriation Committee, told reporters Tuesday.

Now Republicans’ plans for a continuing resolution left Democrats out of the process, Cuellar said, and the appetite to keep helping the GOP delay tough decisions has evaporated. A stopgap measure has now twice failed to gain enough support in the Senate — including a vote Wednesday after the shutdown started.

San Antonio’s other appropriator, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-San Antonio), has been among the Republicans urging caution on big cuts to the social safety net.

While Gonzales supported using another stopgap to keep the government from shutting down this month, he too wants colleagues to hash out these decisions through the regular channels.

Congress has already passed spending bills out of committee, he noted, but leaders need to come together on a version that can make it through both chambers — which would put an end to the shutdown.

“Congress’ core responsibility is to deliver an annual budget,” Gonzales said. “This is political theater, and it will hurt many American families.”

In the meantime, the usual shutdown pains will set in as more time passes. They’ve become increasingly common in divided Washington, with the longest one stretching 35 days in 2018.

How the shutdown affects San Antonio

In San Antonio, which has many federal workers, those deemed essential, such as Department of Homeland Security staff and many military positions, will continue working but won’t be paid until the shutdown is over.

Workers deemed “nonessential” won’t be working at all.

In an unusual move, however, this time the White House has threatened to fire more federal workers so that remaining resources dwindle more slowly.

At the city, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has been beating the drum for local leaders to start planning for federal cuts since entering office this summer.

San Antonio’s revenue sources have been flattening with low consumer confidence, she says, at the same time it’s likely to absorb growing needs.

Federal grants currently account for about $160 million of the city’s 2025-2026 budget, helping pay for Metro Health services, housing initiatives, airport projects and some police officer salaries.

“It’s almost like you know COVID is coming. … So how do we essentially ensure we’re best prepared and postured to respond?” she said during the city’s August budget presentation.

The budget was approved weeks later, with so far little agreement on where leaders would cut.

City Manager Erik Walsh told reporters Wednesday that the city budget builds in money to pay for federally funded programs up front, and then submit them for reimbursement later.

“It’s just the way the federal government does it, … so the short-term impact [to us] is nothing,” Walsh said. 

The longer the shutdown goes on, however, the city may have to decide what it wants to continue funding and how to go about with local dollars.

“As a large organization, we can continue to fund those programs,” Walsh said. “But if we go past two or three months, we’ll start to see some impacts.”