Today marks the 14th day of yet another federal government shutdown.
The negotiations for a more “permanent” resolution have become entangled over the funding of the US-Mexican border wall.
The buzzword back in 2017 was “DACA” the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy and the time before that, in 2013, was “debt ceiling” and “affordable care act”, as politicians in both parties couldn’t come to an agreement to keep the government operating.
It seems not much has changed.
While a shutdown does have an effect on the economy and many federal government employees (about 800,000), most of the essential operations will continue. Which means those of us who are not employed by the federal government should only be slightly affected by it, at least for the time being.
Here are some of the services that I think have a direct impact on all of us and how the shutdown will affect them:
Social Security
Most of the Social Security Administration’s staff are exempt from the furloughs and Social Security checks will continue to go out as planned.
Postal Service
The Postal Service operates off its own revenue stream, so post offices will stay open and delivery will be unaffected.
Internal Revenue Service
While the IRS has not released it’s plan for the government shutdown ahead of time like it has done in the past, I suspect refunds will be delayed if the shutdown is not resolved soon.