Federal and Local Services Update

As the country deals with government gridlock, here are some of the things you can expect as it pertains to your everyday life.

U.S. Postal Services

Yes – You’ve got mail! Deliveries continue as usual because the U.S. Postal Service receives no tax dollars for day-to-day operations. It relies on income from stamps and other postal fees to keep running.

Domestic & International Air Travel

The State Department will continue processing foreign applications for visas and U.S. applications for passports, since fees are collected to finance those services. Embassies and consulates overseas continue to provide services to American citizens. Federal air traffic controllers remain on the job and airport screeners keep funneling passengers through security checkpoints. Federal inspectors continue to enforce safety rules.

National Parks and Recreation

All national museums and parks on U.S. Federal land such as the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site and the Washington Monument will be closed. The Statue of Liberty in New York, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Yellowstone National Park, Alcatraz Island near San Francisco, which includes the visitor centers, are closed. In all, 368 parks, museums and zoos around the U.S. will be closed.

Federal Court System

Order in the court! Yes, cases will continue. The U.S court system can operate for 10 days on reserved funds. After 10 days, the judiciary would begin furloughs of employees whose work is considered non-essential. Cases, however, will continue to be heard.

Internal Revenue Service

Yes, you’ll still have to file and pay your taxes, but the Internal Revenue Service will cease all audits and processing of non-electronic returns during the government shutdown. Got questions? Sorry, the IRS says taxpayer services, including toll-free help lines, are shut as well.

Benefit Payments

Social Security and Medicare benefits will keep coming, but there could be delays in processing new disability applications. Unemployment benefits will still go out. Social Security checks will still get mailed.

Health

New patients are not being accepted into clinical research at the National Institutes of Health, but current patients would continue to receive care. Medical research at the NIH is disrupted and some studies have been delayed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is being severely limited in spotting or investigating disease outbreaks such as the flu or that mysterious MERS virus from the Middle East.

Food Safety

The Food and Drug Administration is handling high-risk recalls, but has suspended most routine safety inspections. Federal meat inspections proceed as usual.

Federally Funded Head Start Programs

A small number of Head Start programs felt the impact right away. The federal Administration for Children and Families says grants expiring around October 1 may not be renewed. Over time, more programs would be affected.

Food Assistance

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, could shut down. School lunches and breakfasts will continue to be served, and food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, continue to be distributed. But several smaller feeding programs do not have the money to operate.

FHA Loans

Many low-to-moderate income borrowers and first-time homebuyers seeking government-backed mortgages face delays during the shutdown. The Federal Housing Administration, which guarantees about 30 percent of home mortgages, won’t underwrite or approve any new loans during the shutdown. Action on government-backed loans to small businesses would be suspended.

Federal Space and Science

NASA will continue to keep workers at Mission Control in Houston and elsewhere to support the International Space station, where two Americans and four others are deployed. The National Weather Service keeps forecasting weather and issuing warnings, and the National Hurricane Center continues to track storms. The scientific work of the U.S. Geological Survey will be halted.

Homeland Security

The majority of the Department of Homeland Security’s employees are expected to stay on the job, including uniformed agents and officers at the country’s borders and ports of entry. This includes members of the Coast Guard, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers, Secret Service personnel and other law enforcement agents and officers. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees will continue to process green card applications.

Military

The military’s 1.4 million active-duty personnel stay on duty, but their paychecks are likely to be delayed. About half of the Defense Department’s civilian employees could be furloughed.

Federal Prisons

All federal prisons remain open, and criminal litigations will proceed.

Veterans Administration Services

Most services offered through the Department of Veterans Affairs continue because lawmakers approve money one year in advance for the VA’s health programs. Veterans are still be able to visit hospitals for inpatient care, get mental health counseling at vet centers, or get prescriptions filled at VA health clinics.

Operators still staff the crisis hotline and claims workers still process payments to cover disability and pension benefits. But those veterans appealing the denial of disability benefits to the Board of Veterans Appeals will have to wait longer for a decision because the board would not issue any decisions during a shutdown.

Federal Workplace Safety

Federal occupational safety and health inspectors would stop workplace inspections except in cases of imminent danger.