The government has been shut down for 17 days now. The government was scheduled to come to an agreement on several issues like funding for specific government sections including the State Department, the Justice Department, the Transportation Department, the Agriculture Department, and the Department of the Interior by Dec. 21.
Unfortunately, among those various priorities lies the decision over the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which governs funding for border security and a potential Mexican-border wall. Luckily, only about a quarter of the government has yet to be funded. However, this leaves hundred to thousands of employees without pay which results in them possibly being back paid.
Until the government figures it all out, many are wondering what is and isn’t open. The partial government shutdown has not affected social security, Medicare or Medicaid, the U.S. Postal Service, Veterans, hospitals, government benefits, air traffic control, food stamps, the military, the Mueller Investigation, the federal judiciary and the city of Washington D.C.
Businesses that have been impacted by the partial shutdown include national parks, museums, the IRS, the state department services, environmental and food inspections.
