Pointing to the failure of Congress to pass a new fiscal year budget, Arizona Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs has announced that she will not use state funds to keep the Grand Canyon National Park open.
At the same time the National Park Service has posted information noting that all its buildings in the Grand Canyon are now closed.
Other federal parks in Arizona may also be closed. “Arizona taxpayers cannot and should not continue bearing the cost of dysfunctional politicians in Washington, D.C. who would rather shut down the government than reach across the aisle and work together,” Christian Slater, a spokesman for Hobbs, remarked.
A full range of what offices in Arizona will be closed and how many federal employees in the state will be laid off is not currently known. Arizona Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani, in a news conference, remarked “That’s being determined, and one of the reasons is because it is up to the executive branch on how they do that.”
Continued Ciscomani: “Regardless of who’s in the White House, they have the authority to determine what stays open and what doesn’t stay open.”
In Colorado, Democrat Governor Jared Polis said eight national parks in his state will remain open, while he is “closely monitoring the impacts of this federal government shutdown on our state, and taking action where possible to mitigate harm to Coloradoans and our communities.”
Polis additionally said that state funds have been secured to keep intact the federal Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children for at least a month.
In a news release from the Governor’s office, it was noted that Colorado “does not expect to see major impacts to State-run programs or State government workforce for the first week of the shutdown.”
But the statement adds that the “impact will grow the longer the shutdown lasts.”
New Mexico Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said that more than 20,000 federal workers in the state won’t get paid during the shutdown. “Others will be furloughed entirely as Trump’s assault on the federal government escalates,” she said in a statement.
The Governor called for a special session of the New Mexico State Legislature to meet with the goal of increasing state investments in food assistance programs and increasing support for rural healthcare providers, among other initiatives.
Both the Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories expect to operate under normal conditions, notes a press release issued by New Mexico Democrat Senator Martin Heinrich, “and will re-evaluate their operational statuses over time as they draw down their rollover funds.”
October 2, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Grand Canyon National Park
