Shutdown stories: Rural hospital feels the pain from loan freeze

The partial government shutdown, now on its 32nd day, has dried up a key cash flow for at least one rural hospital: a $3.2 million low-interest rural development loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In the case of the small not-for-profit medical center in Pecos, N.M., the shutdown's freeze of USDA funding also halted financing of a costly construction project when the official in charge of the loan went on furlough. The project, a 9,000-square-foot expansion to bring all its treatments into one building, is slated for an August completion.