Nearly six years after the state created a loan program to help federal employees forced to work without pay through a government shutdown, state officials say they’re ready to launch the program if Congress can’t resolve a budget standoff.

But state officials also said a website isn’t available yet, and they can’t provide any details on how to apply because that won’t be determined if and until a federal shutdown happens.

The General Assembly passed the Federal Shutdown Paycheck Protection Act in 2019 after the country experienced its longest government shutdown in history and left some Marylanders without paychecks for weeks.

“The state is carefully monitoring news of the possible shutdown,” Maryland Department of Labor spokesperson Dinah Winnick wrote in an email.

She also said the state has been “working rapidly to prepare the staff and resources that would need to be in place for a smooth and successful launch.”

Congress was working Friday evening on another budget deal ahead of a midnight deadline.

The state piloted a similar program earlier this year, providing benefits for Port of Baltimore workers after the Key Bridge collapse shut down shipping.

Winnick said the agency is “confident” that the program’s “resources will be in place and the application process will be clear for those who access it.”

“We know how vital a steady paycheck is to Marylanders, and will provide the public with further information on how to apply for funds as those details are available,” Winnick said in a statement.

Furloughed federal employees and furloughed employees of federal contractors may also qualify for unemployment insurance and can apply through the state’s labor department.

The next federal shutdown could begin as soon as midnight, just days before Christmas, unless Congress quickly passes a bill keeping government open. President-elect Donald Trump scuttled federal lawmakers’ first attempt to finance government agencies and a second attempt failed in a Thursday evening vote.

Without a solution, workers at dozens of departments could find themselves without pay should a shutdown linger.

“The prospect of a lengthy government shutdown is nothing short of a Christmas gift to America’s adversaries and a lump of coal in the stockings of the American people,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a national federal workers union.

Maryland is home to military installations and several government agencies. About 10% of the state’s income comes from federal wages and pensions. Add to that a tranche of private Maryland-based companies that ran about $42 billion in government contracts in 2023.

Maryland’s loan program would help designated “essential” employees forced to work without pay during a shutdown. The federal government typically reimburses employees for their missed wages once a budget crisis resolves. The state of Maryland expects them to pay back loans should they access the program.

Del. Jessica Feldmark conceived the Maryland loan program back in 2019, when she first took office as a delegate amid a partial federal government shutdown. She learned from her constituents that federal employees who were forced to work without pay during a shutdown are ineligible for unemployment benefits.

“We felt it was the right thing to do, to come up with a state program to provide some assistance while folks are enduring the shutdown,” said Feldmark, a Howard County Democrat.

Government shutdowns cost taxpayers billions of dollars. The last three combined cost at least $3.7 billion, according to a U.S. Senate subcommittee report.

State officials and revenue forecasters have learned some lessons from recent federal budget battles, and it seems the ultimate impact depends on the outcome, according to state forecasters.

Maryland’s economy suffered an acute blow during the most recent and longest federal government shutdown. The state missed out on more than $57 million in biweekly state and local withholdings and over $2 million in sales tax, according to the comptroller’s office.

That shutdown lasted for 35 days and started in December 2018 under the Trump administration, but had little long-term impact on Maryland’s economy, according to state reports.

However, the effects of another budget fight, the sequestration that took effect in 2013, lasted for years.

Baltimore Banner reporter Pamela Wood contributed to this report.

Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that Maryland missed out on more than $57 million in biweekly state and local withholdings in the longest federal government shutdown, not weekly withholdings.