Wednesday marked Day 19 of the partial government shutdown, but there's still a lot of confusion about which parts of the federal government are closed.
We're going to divvy them up into three categories: agencies and services that are operating or available, shut down and the ones that are partially shut down. While this is not a complete list, it covers categories that affect millions of people.
Operating:
- Social Security
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- SNAP benefits or food stamps (The USDA is partially shut down, but says people will receive benefits at least through February)
- Veterans Affairs Department
- Federal courts (At least until January 11)
- TSA (Although hundreds of agents have been calling out sick)
- Passport services
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- U.S. Postal Service
Shut down:
- Immigration courts (Judges have had to postpone hearings, and there is already an 800,000-case backlog)
- E-Verify (This is the site businesses use to verify that employees are eligible to work in the United States)
Partially shut down:
- FDA (The agency is only inspecting facilities that process high-risk food, such as seafood and some dairy products)
- IRS (It says you will get your tax refund, but many IRS employees are also working without pay)
It is worth noting Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is also continuing during the shutdown because it is not dependent on congressional appropriation for funding.
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