Government Shutdown: What’s Closed, What’s Open?

The lights went out on large parts of the federal government on Friday night after President Trump refused to sign the bipartisan spending deal, known as a Continuing Resolution, that Congress had forwarded.

Without the president’s signature numerous agencies, including those that operate parks, homeland security, law enforcement, tax collection and transportation, were forced to close their doors and furlough their staff.

Close to 400,000 federal workers are expected to be home without pay until a deal is reached, and numerous services will be halted in that time, with the impacts broadening the longer the funding lapse lasts.

Some aspects of government such as its military operations were funded by earlier bills passed and signed earlier in the year. The work of those agencies will continue unchanged.

Other agencies such as presidential libraries may or may not remain open, depending on their funding source. Those agencies are listed as ‘Call First’.

Here’s an initial list:

Closed: Housing voucher requests, farm service centers, federal office buildings used by affected agencies, the Do-not-call registry, many federal research operations, the processing of tax refunds

Open: Military operations, border security, the postal service, airports, embassies and prisons.

Call first: Passport offices, national parks and monuments, presidential libraries, small business loans, the processing of federal records requests.

Details of the closed agencies and the work they carry out :

Housing voucher requests: Processing of requests for housing vouchers from Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will stop.

Farm service centers: These centers, which provide market guidance and other support to farmers, would close across the country. This could be an issue for farmers looking for guidance on the contents of the most recent Farm Bill, passed on Thursday.

Do-not-call registry: The Federal Trade Commission will not be adding entries to their do-not-call registry or spam database.

Federal research operations: Some government research projects, such as geological and weather research, will cease. The Census Bureau would delay reports on home spending and new construction.

Tax refunds: The Internal Revenue Service will cease all processing of tax returns. Although few are processed outside of tax season the longer the shutdown lingers after January 1st the greater the effect will be.

As of Saturday the next steps to resolve the crisis remain unclear. As the stumbling block remains at the president’s desk, reports are that most lawmakers have already returned to their home states. If new legislation is required to resolve the impasse, those who have traveled have been promised a 24 hour notice period to return to Washington.

White House staff were reportedly on notice to be prepared to leave for Mar-a-Lago and the president’s golfing holiday anytime from noon Saturday onwards. The possibility then remains that the president will play golf whilst the cadre of security personnel guarding him will be doing so unpaid.

(Image courtesy Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA)