What's changing, what's not, in a shutdown
By CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Campers in national parks are to pull up stakes and
leave, some veterans waiting to have disability benefits approved will have
to cool their heels even longer, many routine food inspections will be
suspended and panda-cams will go dark at the shuttered National Zoo.
Those are among the immediate effects when parts of the government shut down
Tuesday because of the budget impasse in Congress.
In this time of argument and political gridlock, a blueprint to manage
federal dysfunction is one function that appears to have gone smoothly.
Throughout government, plans are ready to roll out to keep essential
services running and numb the impact for the public. The longer a shutdown
goes on, the more it will be felt in day-to-day lives and in the economy as
a whole.
A look at what is bound to happen, and what probably won't:
---
THIS: Washington's paralysis will be felt early on in distant lands as well
as in the capital - namely, at national parks. All park services will close.
Campers have 48 hours to leave their sites. Many parks, such as Yellowstone,
will close to traffic, and some will become completely inaccessible.
Smithsonian museums in Washington will close and so will the zoo, where
panda cams record every twitch and cuddle of the panda cub born Aug. 23 but
are to be turned off in the first day of a shutdown.
The Statue of Liberty in New York, the loop road at Acadia National Park in
Maine, Skyline Drive in Virginia, and Philadelphia's Independence National
Historical Park, home of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, will be off
limits. At Grand Canyon National Park, people will be turned back from
entrance gates and overlooks will be cordoned off along a state road inside
the park that will remain open.
"People who waited a year to get a reservation to go to the bottom of the
Grand Canyon all of a sudden will find themselves without an opportunity to
take that trip," said Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the National Park
Service.
BUT NOT THIS: At some parks, where access is not controlled by gates or
entrance stations, people can continue to drive, bike and hike. People won't
be shooed off the Appalachian Trail, for example, and parks with highways
running through them, like the Great Smoky Mountains, also are likely to be
accessible. Officials won't scour the entire 1.2 million-acre Grand Canyon
park looking for people; those already hiking or camping in the backcountry
and on rafting trips on the Colorado River will be able to complete their
trips. The care and feeding of the National Zoo's animals will all go on as
usual.
The shutdown won't affect Ellis Island or the Washington Monument because
they are already closed for repairs.
---
THIS: The Board of Veterans Appeals will stop issuing rulings, meaning
decisions about some disability claims by veterans will wait even longer
than usual. Interments at national cemeteries will slow. If a shutdown drags
on for weeks, disability and pension payments may be interrupted.
BUT NOT THIS: Most Department of Veterans Affairs services will continue; 95
percent of staff are either exempted from a shutdown or have the budget to
keep paying them already in place. The department's health programs get
their money a year in advance, so veterans can still see their doctor, get
prescriptions filled and visit fully operational VA hospitals and outpatient
clinics. Claims workers can process benefit payments until late in October,
when that money starts to run out.
---
THIS: New patients won't be accepted into clinical research at the National
Institutes of Health, including 255 trials for cancer patients; care will
continue for current patients. Federal medical research will be curtailed
and the government's ability to detect and investigate disease outbreaks
will be harmed. Grant applications will be accepted but not dealt with.
BUT NOT THIS: The show goes on for President Barack Obama's health care law.
Tuesday heralds the debut of health insurance markets across the country,
which begin accepting customers for coverage that begins in January. Core
elements of the law are an entitlement, like Social Security, so their flow
of money does not depend on congressional appropriations. That's why
Republicans have been trying explicitly to starve the law of money. An
impasse in approving a federal budget has little effect on Obamacare. As for
NIH operations, reduced hospital staff at the NIH Clinical Center will care
for current patients, and research animals will get their usual care.
---
THIS: Most routine food inspections by the Food and Drug Administration will
be suspended.
BUT NOT THIS: Meat inspection, done by the Agriculture Department,
continues. The FDA will still handle high-risk recalls.
---
THIS: Complaints from airline passengers to the government will fall on deaf
ears. The government won't be able to do new car safety testing and ratings
or handle automobile recall information. Internal Transportation Department
investigations of waste and fraud will be put on ice, and progress will be
slowed on replacing the country's radar-based air traffic system with
GPS-based navigation. Most accident investigators who respond to air
crashes, train collisions, pipeline explosions and other accidents will be
furloughed but could be called back if needed.
Kristie Greco, speaking for the Federal Aviation Administration, said nearly
2,500 safety office personnel will be furloughed but may be called back
incrementally over the next two weeks. The union representing aviation
safety inspectors said it was told by FAA Administrator Michael Huerta that
nearly 3,000 inspectors will be off work. Greco did not confirm that.
BUT NOT THIS: Air traffic controllers and many of the technicians who keep
air traffic equipment working will remain on the job. Amtrak says it can
continue normal operations for a while, relying on ticket revenue, but will
suffer without federal subsidies over the longer term. FAA employees who
make grants to airports, most Federal Highway Administration workers and
federal bus and truck safety inspectors will also stay on the job because
they are paid with user fees. Railroad and pipeline safety inspectors will
also remain at work.
---
THIS: About half the Defense Department's civilian employees will be
furloughed.
BUT NOT THIS: The 1.4 million active-duty military personnel stay on duty
and under a last-minute bill, they should keep getting paychecks on time.
Most Homeland Security agents and border officers, as well as other law
enforcement agents and officers, keep working.
---
THIS: The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and
Children, known as WIC, could shut down. It provides supplemental food,
health care referrals and nutrition education for pregnant women, mothers
and their children.
BUT NOT THIS: School lunches and breakfasts will continue to be served, and
food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or
SNAP, will still be distributed.
---
THIS: A shutdown that lasts two weeks or more would probably start to slow
an already sluggish economy, analysts say. Closures of national parks would
hurt hotels, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses. And federal
workers who lost pay would spend less, thereby curbing economic growth. A
three-week shutdown would slow the economy's annual growth rate in the
October-December quarter by up to 0.9 of a percentage point, Goldman Sachs
has estimated. If so, that could mean a growth rate of 1.6 percent, compared
with the 2.5 percent that many economists now forecast.
BUT NOT THIS: Little impact on the economy if the shutdown only lasts a few
days.
---
THIS: Economic data will be interrupted as the Bureau of Labor Statistics
ceases almost all operations. This will leave the stock market without some
of the benchmark economic indicators that drive the market up or down. The
key September jobs report, due Friday, could still be released on time if
the White House authorizes that, but that's not been determined. Statistical
gathering also is being interrupted at the Commerce Department and Census
Bureau. This means the government won't come out on time with its monthly
report on construction spending Tuesday or a factory orders report Thursday.
BUT NOT THIS: The weekly report on applications for unemployment benefits is
still expected Thursday. The Treasury Department's daily report on
government finances will be released normally and government debt auctions
are to proceed as scheduled. And at Commerce, these functions continue,
among others: weather and climate observation, fisheries law enforcement and
patent and trademark application processing.
---
THIS: Some passport services located in federal buildings might be disrupted
- only if those buildings are forced to close because of a disruption in
building support services.
BUT NOT THIS: Except in those instances, passport and visas will be handled
as usual, both at home and abroad. These activities of the Bureau of
Consular Affairs are fully supported by user fees instead of appropriated
money, so are not affected. As well, the government will keep handling green
card applications.
---
THIS: The Federal Housing Administration, which insures about 15 percent of
new loans for home purchases, will approve fewer loans for its client base -
borrowers with low to moderate income - because of reduced staff. Only 67 of
349 employees will keep working. The agency will focus on single-family
homes during a shutdown, setting aside loan applications for multi-family
dwellings. The Housing and Urban Development Department won't make
additional payments to the nation's 3,300 public housing authorities, but
the agency estimates that most of them have enough money to keep giving
people rental assistance until the end of October.
BUT NOT THIS: It will be business as usual for borrowers seeking loans
guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together own or guarantee
nearly half of all U.S. mortgages and 90 percent of new ones.
---
THIS: Possible delays in processing new disability applications.
BUT NOT THIS: Social Security and Medicare benefits still keep coming.
--
Associated Press writers Sam Hananel, Matthew Daly, Joan Lowy, Kevin
Freking, Hope Yen, Lauran Neergaard, Andrew Miga, Deb Riechmann, Ricardo
Alonso-Zaldivar, Lolita C. Baldor, Jesse Holland, Mary Clare Jalonick and
Alicia Caldwell in Washington; and Felicia Fonseca at Grand Canyon National
Park, contributed to this report.
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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