Here's how the shutdown has directly impacted LRRD in only one week:
$500,000 in open quotes hangs in the balance. Whether or not we make those sales depends directly on the sort of federal funding that is held up by the shutdown.
Our clients who depend on federal grant money - that includes universities, colleges, public schools, private schools, museums and nonprofits, to name a few - don't know the status of their grants for FY2014. Those who applied for grants don't know if they'll get funding. Those who got funding can't access it until the budget is approved.
The Illinois Office of Trade and Development awarded us money through the STEP program for a sales trip abroad. That money comes from the Small Business Administration, a federal entity, and we can't have it until after the shutdown ends.
If the shutdown doesn’t end soon, we lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. When we lose business, our suppliers lose business. See a list of some of those suppliers below, who can expect a dramatic cut in sales from us as the shutdown drags on.
Since much of basic research in Earth Sciences and medicine is government funded, our colleagues in those areas are suffering as well, and not just from furlough. Valuable projects are being abandoned and spoiled because scientists cannot monitor them, or are going to miss once-a-year field windows.
The list goes on and on. This is no way to run a great country.
Sincerely,
Steve Gough
Owner and Founder, Little River Research & Design
Since 1991
Local suppliers:
National suppliers:
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Nathan finishes an Em2 box. |
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Jim, Nathan, and Anna ship a river model. Many of our
models are at least in part federally funded, and many
vendors, including this truck driver, depend on our
business.
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Our models are used worldwide for education and
research in river science, earth sciences and conservation. |
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Vital research that must be done in narrow field seasons has been abandoned
or cancelled; in some cases, project are ruined. This is a huge waste of money. |