The possibility that the federal government might shut down this weekend could mean that more than 30,000 federal employees in Hawaii — including “essential” workers helping Lahaina fire survivors — may have to keep working, but without pay.

There were positive steps in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday following a bipartisan agreement to continue to fund federal agencies into November, along with money for disaster relief and continuing aid for Ukraine.

But in the House “a handful” of Republicans continue to “hold the country hostage” for diverse reasons, including Ukraine aid, said U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, whose congressional district includes Maui and the other neighbor islands, and rural Oahu.

“I’m very concerned,” Tokuda said. “Hawaii needs to make sure the wheels of government keep turning.”

Federal support to help Maui residents following the devastating Aug. 8 fire, Tokuda said, requires “decisions to happen quickly. We don’t need government to slow down.”

Some hard-line Republican House members also do not want to replenish the country’s federal disaster aid.

The cost of recovery for the Lahaina wildfire alone has been estimated to be at least $5.6 billion. The deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century was followed three weeks later by Category 4 Hurricane Idalia, which devastated parts of Florida.

“Disasters do not stop coming,” Tokuda said. “Right now we’re being held hostage by a small group of individuals who do not have the best interest of the country at heart.”

U.S. Rep. Ed Case serves as one of the co-chairs of the 64- member House Problem Solvers Caucus working to prevent the federal government from shutting down, starting Sunday.

Even if it does, Case emphasized that Maui disaster assistance would continue, along with passport and immigration processing. But many nonessential federal functions would be suspended, “and most federal employees would not be paid whether they worked as essential or were furloughed as nonessential. The bottom line remains that, regardless, it is hugely disruptive across the board,” he said.

Case called the current standoff in the House “some of the worst moments of serving in Congress” and “so disappointing and frustrating. … It’s irresponsible.”

He said a federal government shutdown would have global ramifications.

“People around the world depend on us,” Case said.

Congress repeatedly has used temporary continuing resolutions to keep funding the federal government. But both Case and Tokuda said Congress needs to find long-term solutions to provide stability.

“CRs have become far too common,” Case said. “We have to find a formula that works for most people.”

The Hawaii congressional delegation’s “No. 1 goal,” Tokuda said, is re-funding the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund back to “at least $16 billion.”

“It’s going to run out at some point,” she said.

Any solution to the current impasse to shutting down the federal government “has to include funding for the disaster recovery fund,” Tokuda said.

Shutting down the federal government, she said, affects “everything we do every day that we take for granted,” while the ambitions of the House holdouts remain unclear.

“They have not articulated clearly what they would want in order to reach some sort of agreement,” Tokuda said. “They keep moving the goalpost, which makes it hard to negotiate. Literally a handful of people can keep us from moving forward to do the people’s work.”