Congress has until March 14 to reach a deal that averts a federal government shutdown. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told reporters Wednesday that he’s not optimistic.

“I legitimately think we could be heading to a government shutdown,” the Democrat said.

He spends parts of every day working with state agency heads and cabinet secretaries to prepare for a possible government shutdown, he said, and his administration has established working groups throughout state government to protect residents from what he sees as inevitable.

“We're having to get creative about additional things that we can do to be able to ensure that people who are relying on federal government supports, that they can continue getting some of those basic supports, even if the federal government decides that they do not want to pay its own bills,” Moore said.

He said choosing not to pay the bills is a luxury that everyday people don’t have.

“The federal government right now is playing with fire, but they're doing it in a way that the only people that are going to get burned are everyday Marylanders and people around the country,” Moore said.