The US government officially shut down on Saturday, the first anniversary of President Donald Trump&#39;s inauguration, after lawmakers failed to agree a stop-gap spending deal.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/what-happens-in-a-us-government-shutdown-30134" target="_blank">What happens in a US government shutdown?</a>

Senators were still negotiating on the Senate floor as the clock turned midnight, but Trump&#39;s office issued a statement blaming opposition Democrats for the crisis.

&quot;We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands,&quot; White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Democratic leaders have blamed the breakdown of a possible deal on Trump&#39;s refusal to fund a program that protects 700,000 &quot;Dreamers&quot; -- undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as children -- from deportation.

Also Read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/one-year-on-trump-leads-divided-us-into-government-shutdown-30126">One year on, Trump leads divided </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/one-year-on-trump-leads-divided-us-into-government-shutdown-30126">US</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/one-year-on-trump-leads-divided-us-into-government-shutdown-30126"> into government shutdown</a> 
 
US federal services and military operations deemed essential will continue, but thousands of government workers will be sent home without pay until the crisis is resolved.

The US government officially shut down on Saturday, the first anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration, after lawmakers failed to agree a stop-gap spending deal

The US government officially shut down on Saturday, the first anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration, after lawmakers failed to agree a stop-gap spending deal. Also read: What happens in a US government shutdown? Senators were still negotiating on the Senate floor as the clock turned midnight, but Trump's office issued a statement blaming opposition Democrats for the crisis. "We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. Democratic leaders have blamed the breakdown of a possible deal on Trump's refusal to fund a program that protects 700,000 "Dreamers" -- undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as children -- from deportation. Also Read: One year on, Trump leads divided US into government shutdown US federal services and military operations deemed essential will continue, but thousands of government workers will be sent home without pay until the crisis is resolved.

US government in shutdown as midnight deadline passes

US President Donald Trump marked the first anniversary of his inauguration on Saturday with his <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-government-shuts-down-as-donald-trump-feuds-with-democrats-30183">government in shutdown</a>, lashing out at Democrats over the collapse of budget negotiations as Congress convened an emergency session to thrash out a deal.

Essential federal services and military activity will continue, but hundreds of thousands of public sector workers will be sent home without wages and even serving soldiers will not be paid until a deal is reached to reopen the US government.

Highlighting the deep political polarisation, people took to the streets of major US cities en masse to march against the president and his policies.

&quot;This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present,&quot; Trump, who is in Washington instead of celebrating the anniversary at his Mar-a-Lago resort, wrote on Twitter in reference to the shutdown.

&quot;Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border,&quot; he tweeted, later accusing the opposition party of &quot;holding our Military hostage.&quot;

The <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/what-happens-in-a-us-government-shutdown-30134">impact of the shutdown</a> will be felt more strongly if it lasts into the coming work week.

Signs that the government was not open for business were already appearing on Saturday.

&quot;The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island are closed due to a lapse in appropriations,&quot; a notice on the National Park Service&#39;s website said, while a sign at US military cemetery in France where 4,409 Americans are buried read: &quot;Due to the US Government shut down, this site is closed to the public.&quot;

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrote in a memo that &quot;daily operations around the world&quot; will continue, but &quot;training for reservists must be curtailed&quot; and that &quot;active forces will stay at their posts adapting their training to achieve the least negative impact on our readiness to fight.&quot;

&#39;Holding pattern&#39;

There have been four government shutdowns since 1990. In the last one in 2013, more than 800,000 government workers were put on temporary leave.

&quot;We&#39;re just in a holding pattern. We just have to wait and see. It&#39;s scary,&quot; Noell Joll, a 50-year-old furloughed US government employee, said in Washington.

Joll was also affected by the 2013 shutdown, but &quot;this one feels a lot more ominous,&quot; she said.

&quot;I think our members are frustrated, they&#39;re disappointed in the president and members of Congress that they&#39;re not funding the government - doing their job - as we do our jobs every day,&quot; J David Cox, the president of one of the largest unions representing government workers, said on CNN.

A deal had appeared likely on Friday afternoon, when Trump - who has touted himself as a master negotiator and dealmaker - seemed to be close to an agreement with Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer on a measure to prevent the expulsion of undocumented migrants who arrived in the country as children.

But no such compromise was in the language that reached Congress for a stop-gap motion to keep the government open for four more weeks while a final arrangement is discussed - and Republicans failed to win enough Democratic support to bring it to a vote.

Congress reconvened for a rare Saturday session, where leaders of both sides traded accusations of responsibility for the shutdown.

Schumer said that trying to negotiate with Trump &quot;was like negotiating with Jell-O.&quot;

&quot;It&#39;s impossible to negotiate with a constantly-moving target,&quot; he said. &quot;President Trump is so mercurial it&#39;s been impossible to get him to agree to anything.

The Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said that Schumer &quot;took the extraordinary step&quot; of preventing the legislation from passing and thus &quot;plunging the country into this totally avoidable mess.&quot;

Anti-Trump protests

Democrats have accused Republicans of poisoning chances of a deal and pandering to Trump&#39;s populist base by refusing to fund a program that protects 700,000 &quot;Dreamers&quot; - undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as children - from deportation.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Republicans have a tenuous one-seat majority in the Senate but would have needed to lure some Democrats to their side to get a 60 vote supermajority to bring the motion forward. They fell ten votes short.

The measure brought to Congress would have extended federal funding until February 16 and reauthorized for six years a health insurance program for poor children - a long-time Democratic objective.

But it would have cut the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, that affects Dreamers.

White House officials insisted there was no urgency to fix DACA, which expires March 5.

As US lawmakers wrangled over government funding, protesters turned out in cities including Washington, New York, Chicago and Denver to express their opposition to Trump and their support for women&#39;s rights.

Protestors hoisted signs with messages such as &quot;Fight like a girl&quot; and &quot;A woman&#39;s place is in the White House.&quot;

Another sign took aim at Trump&#39;s government: &quot;I&#39;ve seen smarter cabinets at IKEA,&quot; it said, referring to a furniture store with items requiring often-tedious and time-consuming assembly.

The impact of the shutdown will be felt more strongly if it lasts into the coming work week.

US President Donald Trump marked the first anniversary of his inauguration on Saturday with his government in shutdown, lashing out at Democrats over the collapse of budget negotiations as Congress convened an emergency session to thrash out a deal. Essential federal services and military activity will continue, but hundreds of thousands of public sector workers will be sent home without wages and even serving soldiers will not be paid until a deal is reached to reopen the US government. Highlighting the deep political polarisation, people took to the streets of major US cities en masse to march against the president and his policies. "This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present," Trump, who is in Washington instead of celebrating the anniversary at his Mar-a-Lago resort, wrote on Twitter in reference to the shutdown. "Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border," he tweeted, later accusing the opposition party of "holding our Military hostage." The impact of the shutdown will be felt more strongly if it lasts into the coming work week. Signs that the government was not open for business were already appearing on Saturday. "The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island are closed due to a lapse in appropriations," a notice on the National Park Service's website said, while a sign at US military cemetery in France where 4,409 Americans are buried read: "Due to the US Government shut down, this site is closed to the public." Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrote in a memo that "daily operations around the world" will continue, but "training for reservists must be curtailed" and that "active forces will stay at their posts adapting their training to achieve the least negative impact on our readiness to fight." 'Holding pattern' There have been four government shutdowns since 1990. In the last one in 2013, more than 800,000 government workers were put on temporary leave. "We're just in a holding pattern. We just have to wait and see. It's scary," Noell Joll, a 50-year-old furloughed US government employee, said in Washington. Joll was also affected by the 2013 shutdown, but "this one feels a lot more ominous," she said. "I think our members are frustrated, they're disappointed in the president and members of Congress that they're not funding the government - doing their job - as we do our jobs every day," J David Cox, the president of one of the largest unions representing government workers, said on CNN. A deal had appeared likely on Friday afternoon, when Trump - who has touted himself as a master negotiator and dealmaker - seemed to be close to an agreement with Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer on a measure to prevent the expulsion of undocumented migrants who arrived in the country as children. But no such compromise was in the language that reached Congress for a stop-gap motion to keep the government open for four more weeks while a final arrangement is discussed - and Republicans failed to win enough Democratic support to bring it to a vote. Congress reconvened for a rare Saturday session, where leaders of both sides traded accusations of responsibility for the shutdown. Schumer said that trying to negotiate with Trump "was like negotiating with Jell-O." "It's impossible to negotiate with a constantly-moving target," he said. "President Trump is so mercurial it's been impossible to get him to agree to anything. The Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said that Schumer "took the extraordinary step" of preventing the legislation from passing and thus "plunging the country into this totally avoidable mess." Anti-Trump protests Democrats have accused Republicans of poisoning chances of a deal and pandering to Trump's populist base by refusing to fund a program that protects 700,000 "Dreamers" - undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as children - from deportation. Republicans have a tenuous one-seat majority in the Senate but would have needed to lure some Democrats to their side to get a 60 vote supermajority to bring the motion forward. They fell ten votes short. The measure brought to Congress would have extended federal funding until February 16 and reauthorized for six years a health insurance program for poor children - a long-time Democratic objective. But it would have cut the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, that affects Dreamers. White House officials insisted there was no urgency to fix DACA, which expires March 5. As US lawmakers wrangled over government funding, protesters turned out in cities including Washington, New York, Chicago and Denver to express their opposition to Trump and their support for women's rights. Protestors hoisted signs with messages such as "Fight like a girl" and "A woman's place is in the White House." Another sign took aim at Trump's government: "I've seen smarter cabinets at IKEA," it said, referring to a furniture store with items requiring often-tedious and time-consuming assembly.

Trump laments 'nice present' of shutdown on inauguration anniversary

Congress voted on Monday to end a three-day US&nbsp;government shutdown, approving another short-term funding bill as Democrats accepted promises from Republicans for a broad debate later on the future of young illegal immigrants.

The fourth temporary funding bill since October easily passed the Senate and the House of Representatives. That sent it to the White House, which said President Donald Trump was expected to sign the bill, a product chiefly of negotiations among Senate leaders.

Enactment by Trump of the bill will allow the government to reopen fully on Tuesday and keep the lights on through February 8, when Congress will have to revisit the budget and immigration policy, two disparate issues that have become closely linked.

The House approved the funding bill by a vote of 266-150 just hours after it passed the Senate by a vote of 81-18.

Trump&#39;s attempts to negotiate an end to the shutdown with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer collapsed on Friday in recriminations and fingerpointing. The Republican president took a new swipe at Democrats as he celebrated the Senate`s pact.

&quot;I am pleased that Democrats in Congress have come to their senses,&quot; Trump said in a statement. &quot;We will make a long-term deal on immigration if and only if it`s good for the country.&quot;

Immigration and the budget are entangled because of Congress&#39;&nbsp;failure last year to approve a budget on time by October 1, just weeks after Trump summarily ordered an end by March to Obama-era legal protections for young immigrants known as &quot;Dreamers.&quot;

The budget failure has necessitated passage by Congress of a series of temporary funding measures, giving Democrats leverage each step of the way since they hold votes needed to overcome a 60-vote threshold in the Senate for most legislation.

With government spending authority about to expire again at midnight on Friday, Democrats withheld support for a fourth stopgap spending bill and demanded action for the Dreamers.

Dreamers

The roughly 700,000 young people were brought to the United States illegally as children, mainly from Mexico and Central America. They mostly grew up in the United States.

Former President Barack Obama&#39;s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, programme gave the Dreamers legal protections and shielded them from deportation.

Democrats, as a condition of supporting a new spending stopgap, demanded a resolution of the uncertain future Trump created for the Dreamers with his DACA order last year.

But Democratic leaders, worried about being blamed for the disruptive shutdown that resulted, relented in the end and accepted a pledge by Republicans to hold a debate later over the fate of the Dreamers and related immigration issues.

Tens of thousands of federal workers had begun closing down operations for lack of funding on Monday, the first weekday since the shutdown, but essential services such as security and defence operations had continued.&nbsp;

The shutdown undercut Trump`s self-crafted image as a dealmaker who would repair the broken culture in Washington.&nbsp;

It forced Trump to cancel a weekend trip to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and created uncertainty around his scheduled trip this week to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.&nbsp;

The US&nbsp;government cannot fully operate without funding bills that are voted in Congress regularly. Washington has been hampered by frequent threats of a shutdown in recent years as the two parties fight over spending, immigration and other issues. The last US&nbsp;government shutdown was in 2013.&nbsp;

Both sides in Washington had tried to blame each other for the shutdown. The White House on Saturday refused to negotiate on immigration issues until the government reopened.&nbsp;

On Monday, Trump met separately at the White House with Republican senators who have taken a harder line on immigration and with moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Doug Jones.

Why do we have to wait?

Some liberal groups were infuriated by the decision to reopen the government.

&quot;Today&#39;s cave by Senate Democrats - led by weak-kneed, right-of-centre Democrats - is why people don&rsquo;t believe the Democratic Party stands for anything,&quot; said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Markets have absorbed the shutdown drama over the past week.

US&nbsp;stocks advanced on Monday as each of Wall Street&#39;s main indexes touched a record intraday level after the shutdown deal.&nbsp;

For Jovan Rodriguez of Brooklyn, New York, a Dreamer whose family came from Mexico when he was 3 years old and ultimately settled in Texas, the latest development was more of the same.

&quot;Why do we have to wait - again? It`s like our lives are suspended in limbo,&quot; he said. And they have been for months. I don&#39;t trust the Republicans and I don&#39;t trust (Senate Majority Leader Mitch) McConnell with just a promise. That&#39;s not good enough any more.&quot;

The fourth temporary funding bill since October easily passed the Senate and the House of Representatives

Congress voted on Monday to end a three-day US government shutdown, approving another short-term funding bill as Democrats accepted promises from Republicans for a broad debate later on the future of young illegal immigrants. The fourth temporary funding bill since October easily passed the Senate and the House of Representatives. That sent it to the White House, which said President Donald Trump was expected to sign the bill, a product chiefly of negotiations among Senate leaders. Enactment by Trump of the bill will allow the government to reopen fully on Tuesday and keep the lights on through February 8, when Congress will have to revisit the budget and immigration policy, two disparate issues that have become closely linked. The House approved the funding bill by a vote of 266-150 just hours after it passed the Senate by a vote of 81-18. Trump's attempts to negotiate an end to the shutdown with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer collapsed on Friday in recriminations and fingerpointing. The Republican president took a new swipe at Democrats as he celebrated the Senate`s pact. "I am pleased that Democrats in Congress have come to their senses," Trump said in a statement. "We will make a long-term deal on immigration if and only if it`s good for the country." Immigration and the budget are entangled because of Congress' failure last year to approve a budget on time by October 1, just weeks after Trump summarily ordered an end by March to Obama-era legal protections for young immigrants known as "Dreamers." The budget failure has necessitated passage by Congress of a series of temporary funding measures, giving Democrats leverage each step of the way since they hold votes needed to overcome a 60-vote threshold in the Senate for most legislation. With government spending authority about to expire again at midnight on Friday, Democrats withheld support for a fourth stopgap spending bill and demanded action for the Dreamers. Dreamers The roughly 700,000 young people were brought to the United States illegally as children, mainly from Mexico and Central America. They mostly grew up in the United States. Former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, programme gave the Dreamers legal protections and shielded them from deportation. Democrats, as a condition of supporting a new spending stopgap, demanded a resolution of the uncertain future Trump created for the Dreamers with his DACA order last year. But Democratic leaders, worried about being blamed for the disruptive shutdown that resulted, relented in the end and accepted a pledge by Republicans to hold a debate later over the fate of the Dreamers and related immigration issues. Tens of thousands of federal workers had begun closing down operations for lack of funding on Monday, the first weekday since the shutdown, but essential services such as security and defence operations had continued. The shutdown undercut Trump`s self-crafted image as a dealmaker who would repair the broken culture in Washington. It forced Trump to cancel a weekend trip to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and created uncertainty around his scheduled trip this week to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The US government cannot fully operate without funding bills that are voted in Congress regularly. Washington has been hampered by frequent threats of a shutdown in recent years as the two parties fight over spending, immigration and other issues. The last US government shutdown was in 2013. Both sides in Washington had tried to blame each other for the shutdown. The White House on Saturday refused to negotiate on immigration issues until the government reopened. On Monday, Trump met separately at the White House with Republican senators who have taken a harder line on immigration and with moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Doug Jones. Why do we have to wait? Some liberal groups were infuriated by the decision to reopen the government. "Today's cave by Senate Democrats - led by weak-kneed, right-of-centre Democrats - is why people don’t believe the Democratic Party stands for anything," said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Markets have absorbed the shutdown drama over the past week. US stocks advanced on Monday as each of Wall Street's main indexes touched a record intraday level after the shutdown deal. For Jovan Rodriguez of Brooklyn, New York, a Dreamer whose family came from Mexico when he was 3 years old and ultimately settled in Texas, the latest development was more of the same. "Why do we have to wait - again? It`s like our lives are suspended in limbo," he said. And they have been for months. I don't trust the Republicans and I don't trust (Senate Majority Leader Mitch) McConnell with just a promise. That's not good enough any more."

Government shutdown fizzles on spending, immigration deal in US Congress

The US government <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-government-in-shutdown-as-midnight-deadline-passes-30128">officially shut down</a> at midnight on Friday after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a last-minute deal to fund its operations, divided in a bitter dispute over immigration and border security.

In shutdowns, nonessential government employees are furloughed, or placed on temporary unpaid leave. Workers deemed essential, including those dealing with public safety and national security, keep working.

After previous government shutdowns, Congress passed measures to ensure that all unpaid workers received retroactive pay. The Trump administration would support a similar measure, a senior administration official said on Friday.

Workers began finding out on Friday whether they would be furloughed, but official notices would come as early as Saturday. They would receive their last paycheck for work up until the shutdown on Friday January 26.

The last shutdown, in October 2013, lasted more than two weeks and more than 800,000 federal employees were furloughed. There is no official tally of how many would be off work this time. Here are some details about what happened in 2013, along with some recent updates from officials:

Military: The Defense Department said on Friday that a shutdown would not affect the US&nbsp;military&#39;s war in Afghanistan or its operations against Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria. All 1.3 million military personnel on active duty would remain on normal duty status. Civilian personnel in nonessential operations would be furloughed. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said a sustained funding impasse would cause ships to go without maintenance and aircraft to be grounded.

Justice: The Justice Department has many essential workers. Under its shutdown contingency plan, about 95,000 of the department&#39;s almost 115,000 staff would keep working.

Financial oversight: The stock market-policing Securities and Exchange Commission funds itself by collecting fees from the financial industry, but its budget is set by Congress. It has said in the past it would be able to continue operations temporarily in a shutdown. But it would have to furlough workers if Congress went weeks before approving new funding.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, meanwhile, would have to furlough 95 per cent of its employees immediately. An agency spokeswoman said the derivatives regulator could, however, call in additional staff in the event of a financial market emergency.

White House: More than 1,000 of the 1,715 staff at the White House would be furloughed, the Trump administration said on Friday. The president would be provided with enough support to carry out his constitutional duties, including staff needed for a planned trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, administration officials said.

National Parks: The Trump administration plans to keep national parks open with rangers and security guards on duty. The parks were closed in 2013 and it resulted in a loss of 750,000 daily visitors, said the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association. The National Park Service (NPS) estimated the shutdown resulted in $500 million in lost visitor spending in areas around the parks and the Smithsonian museums.

Washington tourist sites: In 2013, popular tourist sites such as the Smithsonian closed, with barricades going up at the Lincoln Memorial, the Library of Congress and the National Archives. The Trump administration does not plan to barricade open-air monuments this time, officials said. The Smithsonian has said its museums could remain open for the first weekend. The NPS, which oversees many Washington landmarks, including the National Mall, has said it has a plan in place so that &quot;First Amendment activities&quot; can continue during a shutdown.

Taxes: The Internal Revenue Service furloughed 90 per cent of its staff in 2013, the liberal Center for American Progress said. About $4 billion in tax refunds were delayed as a result, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Mail delivery: Deliveries would continue as usual because the US&nbsp;Postal Service receives no tax dollars for day-to-day operations.

Travel: Air and rail travellers did not feel a big impact in 2013 because security officers and air traffic controllers remained at work. Passport processing continued with some delays.

Courts: The Administrative Office of the US&nbsp;Courts has said federal courts, including the Supreme Court, could continue to operate normally for about three weeks without additional funding.

Healthcare: In 2013, the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly continued largely without disruption. Hundreds of patients could not enroll in National Institutes of Health clinical trials, according to the OMB. A program at the US&nbsp;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track flu outbreaks was temporarily halted in 2013. This time, the CDC will continue its work to track the flu outbreak, an official said.

Children: Six Head Start programs in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina serving about 6,300 children shut for nine days in 2013, the OMB said.

Social security: Social Security and disability checks were issued in 2013 with no change in payment dates and field offices remained open but offered limited services. There were delays in the review process for new applicants.

Loans: Processing of mortgages and other loans was delayed when lenders could not access government services such as income and Social Security number verification. The Small Business Administration was unable to process about 700 applications for $140 million in loans until the shutdown ended, OMB said.

Veterans: Most employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs would not be subject to furlough. VA hospitals would remain open and veterans&#39; benefits would continue, but education assistance and case appeals would be delayed, the department said.

Food inspections: Department of Agriculture meat inspectors stayed on the job. Agricultural statistical reports ceased publication. The USDA&#39;s website went dark.

Energy: The Department of Energy said on Friday that since most of its appropriations are for multiple years, employees should report to work as normal during a shutdown until told otherwise. If there was a prolonged lapse in funding a &quot;limited number&quot; of workers may be placed on furlough.

In shutdowns, nonessential government employees are furloughed, or placed on temporary unpaid leave.

The US government officially shut down at midnight on Friday after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a last-minute deal to fund its operations, divided in a bitter dispute over immigration and border security. In shutdowns, nonessential government employees are furloughed, or placed on temporary unpaid leave. Workers deemed essential, including those dealing with public safety and national security, keep working. After previous government shutdowns, Congress passed measures to ensure that all unpaid workers received retroactive pay. The Trump administration would support a similar measure, a senior administration official said on Friday. Workers began finding out on Friday whether they would be furloughed, but official notices would come as early as Saturday. They would receive their last paycheck for work up until the shutdown on Friday January 26. The last shutdown, in October 2013, lasted more than two weeks and more than 800,000 federal employees were furloughed. There is no official tally of how many would be off work this time. Here are some details about what happened in 2013, along with some recent updates from officials: Military: The Defense Department said on Friday that a shutdown would not affect the US military's war in Afghanistan or its operations against Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria. All 1.3 million military personnel on active duty would remain on normal duty status. Civilian personnel in nonessential operations would be furloughed. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said a sustained funding impasse would cause ships to go without maintenance and aircraft to be grounded. Justice: The Justice Department has many essential workers. Under its shutdown contingency plan, about 95,000 of the department's almost 115,000 staff would keep working. Financial oversight: The stock market-policing Securities and Exchange Commission funds itself by collecting fees from the financial industry, but its budget is set by Congress. It has said in the past it would be able to continue operations temporarily in a shutdown. But it would have to furlough workers if Congress went weeks before approving new funding. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, meanwhile, would have to furlough 95 per cent of its employees immediately. An agency spokeswoman said the derivatives regulator could, however, call in additional staff in the event of a financial market emergency. White House: More than 1,000 of the 1,715 staff at the White House would be furloughed, the Trump administration said on Friday. The president would be provided with enough support to carry out his constitutional duties, including staff needed for a planned trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, administration officials said. National Parks: The Trump administration plans to keep national parks open with rangers and security guards on duty. The parks were closed in 2013 and it resulted in a loss of 750,000 daily visitors, said the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association. The National Park Service (NPS) estimated the shutdown resulted in $500 million in lost visitor spending in areas around the parks and the Smithsonian museums. Washington tourist sites: In 2013, popular tourist sites such as the Smithsonian closed, with barricades going up at the Lincoln Memorial, the Library of Congress and the National Archives. The Trump administration does not plan to barricade open-air monuments this time, officials said. The Smithsonian has said its museums could remain open for the first weekend. The NPS, which oversees many Washington landmarks, including the National Mall, has said it has a plan in place so that "First Amendment activities" can continue during a shutdown. Taxes: The Internal Revenue Service furloughed 90 per cent of its staff in 2013, the liberal Center for American Progress said. About $4 billion in tax refunds were delayed as a result, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Mail delivery: Deliveries would continue as usual because the US Postal Service receives no tax dollars for day-to-day operations. Travel: Air and rail travellers did not feel a big impact in 2013 because security officers and air traffic controllers remained at work. Passport processing continued with some delays. Courts: The Administrative Office of the US Courts has said federal courts, including the Supreme Court, could continue to operate normally for about three weeks without additional funding. Healthcare: In 2013, the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly continued largely without disruption. Hundreds of patients could not enroll in National Institutes of Health clinical trials, according to the OMB. A program at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track flu outbreaks was temporarily halted in 2013. This time, the CDC will continue its work to track the flu outbreak, an official said. Children: Six Head Start programs in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina serving about 6,300 children shut for nine days in 2013, the OMB said. Social security: Social Security and disability checks were issued in 2013 with no change in payment dates and field offices remained open but offered limited services. There were delays in the review process for new applicants. Loans: Processing of mortgages and other loans was delayed when lenders could not access government services such as income and Social Security number verification. The Small Business Administration was unable to process about 700 applications for $140 million in loans until the shutdown ended, OMB said. Veterans: Most employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs would not be subject to furlough. VA hospitals would remain open and veterans' benefits would continue, but education assistance and case appeals would be delayed, the department said. Food inspections: Department of Agriculture meat inspectors stayed on the job. Agricultural statistical reports ceased publication. The USDA's website went dark. Energy: The Department of Energy said on Friday that since most of its appropriations are for multiple years, employees should report to work as normal during a shutdown until told otherwise. If there was a prolonged lapse in funding a "limited number" of workers may be placed on furlough.

What happens in a US government shutdown?

The immediate and most visible impact will be in the government&rsquo;s day-to-day operations. Many departments and offices, like the Department of the Treasury, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Library of Congress, will be closed, and nonessential federal employees across the government would stay home. Families hoping to take their kids to a national park will usually be out of luck in a shutdown, but the Trump administration hopes to keep some of them open. Meanwhile, the men and women who protect our food supply and national security will still be doing their jobs &ndash; without pay.

But beyond the individual workers and families affected, could a short or lengthy shutdown affect the broader U.S. economy as well?

Constantine Yannelis, a business professor at New York University, and I examined data from the last time the government shut down in 2013 to better understand its impact.

An economic speed bump

While a shutdown affects the economy in a number of ways &ndash; from delaying business permits and visas to reducing service hours at innumerable agencies &ndash; a primary channel through which a shutdown affects the economy is through withheld or foregone pay from federal employees who don&rsquo;t receive their paychecks.

Since consumer spending makes up a majority of economic activity in the United States, withholding pay from a large fraction of the workforce can introduce a significant economic speed bump in the short run.

And that&rsquo;s exactly what we saw in 2013.

Similar to the situation today, a partisan standoff in Congress led to a partial shutdown of the government that lasted a little over two weeks beginning on Oct. 1 of that year.

Well over a million federal employees were affected and didn&rsquo;t receive a paycheck during the shutdown. Some were furloughed &ndash; sent home and told not to do anything related to their job. Those deemed &ldquo;essential&rdquo; or &ldquo;exempted&rdquo; &ndash; such as security personnel screening passengers at airport or border patrol agents &ndash; were required to continue working at their jobs, despite no pay at that time. The government eventually paid both groups the money owed them, regardless of whether they worked, after Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement on Oct. 16.

My colleague Yannelis and I sought to understand how households responded by tracking how they behaved in the days leading up to, during and following the shutdown using detailed financial data.

We obtained this anonymized data from a personal finance website where people track their income, expenses, savings and debt. Using the paycheck transaction descriptions, we identified over 60,000 households that contained employees of federal agencies affected by the shutdown. These affected employees included both those who were asked to work without pay and those who were furloughed.

As a comparison group, we also identified over 90,000 households with a member who worked for a state government. That would likely mean they have fairly similar levels of education, experience and financial security, yet their paychecks were unaffected by the shutdown.

<figure class="align-center "><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202640/original/file-20180119-110081-q0daov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" />
<figcaption>Who will be blamed for a government shutdown? AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</figcaption>
</figure>

<h2>&nbsp;</h2>

Short-term impact on spending

Our study led to two primary findings.

First, we found that the shutdown led to an immediate decline in average household spending of almost 10 percent. Surprisingly, despite the fact that most federal workers have stable jobs and income sources, they were quick to cut spending on pretty much everything, from restaurants to clothing to electronics, just days after their pay was delayed.

While households with less money in the bank cut their spending by larger amounts, even those with significant resources and easy access to credit reduced their expenditures.

Second, households with a member who was furloughed and required to stay home from work slashed their spending more dramatically &ndash; by 15-20 percent, or almost twice as much as the average of those affected. This larger decline reflected the fact that these households suddenly had a lot more time on their hands. Rather than going out to eat or paying for child care for example, they were able to spend more time cooking and watching their own children.

This behavior is what tends to spread the economic effects of a shutdown that affects a slice of the population to a wider group of businesses and individuals. And in regions with substantial numbers of federal workers, these declines in spending can greatly hurt the health of the local economy in the short run.

<figure class="align-center "><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202639/original/file-20180119-110094-zxwiwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" />
<figcaption>Depending on how long the impasse lasts, lawmakers may need to order some pizzas, as they did in 2013. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</figcaption>
</figure>

<h2>&nbsp;</h2>

Long-term impact?

Whether or not a shutdown has a longer-term economic impact depends on whether employees are paid their foregone wages after its conclusion &ndash; and how long it lasts.

In 2013, the government repaid even furloughed workers what they would have earned had the shutdown not happened.

This repayment, essentially increasing the size of their first post-shutdown paychecks, had significant and immediate effects on household spending. A sudden spike in spending occurred in the days after the paychecks were disbursed, largely erasing some of the most dramatic declines in spending during the previous two weeks.

The government has usually paid all its employees, &ldquo;essential&rdquo; or not, back pay after other past shutdowns, such as those in the 1990s. While Congress is legally required to pay federal employees who worked during the shutdown, there&rsquo;s no law requiring the same treatment for nonessential workers.

In addition, the longer the shutdown lasts, the worse its impact. Households might deplete savings or hit their credit card limits as the impasse stretches day after day, giving them additional time to adjust their spending in ways that they could not do with only a few days&rsquo; notice. For instance, in 2013, bills like health insurance or tuition payments were largely unaffected. Had that shutdown persisted, households may have started to cut back here as well.

So if Congress refuses to offer furloughed workers back pay and the shutdown lasts weeks rather than days, the economic impact could be severe.

However, if a shutdown is resolved in a relatively short amount of time, with workers being paid back their regular income, the damage would likely be fairly contained.

&nbsp;

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" rel="nofollow" target="blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-a-federal-government-shutdown-damage-the-us-economy-90419" rel="nofollow" target="blank">original article</a>.

&nbsp;

If Congress refuses to offer furloughed workers back pay and the shutdown lasts weeks rather than days, the economic impact could be severe.

The immediate and most visible impact will be in the government’s day-to-day operations. Many departments and offices, like the Department of the Treasury, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Library of Congress, will be closed, and nonessential federal employees across the government would stay home. Families hoping to take their kids to a national park will usually be out of luck in a shutdown, but the Trump administration hopes to keep some of them open. Meanwhile, the men and women who protect our food supply and national security will still be doing their jobs – without pay. But beyond the individual workers and families affected, could a short or lengthy shutdown affect the broader U.S. economy as well? Constantine Yannelis, a business professor at New York University, and I examined data from the last time the government shut down in 2013 to better understand its impact. An economic speed bump While a shutdown affects the economy in a number of ways – from delaying business permits and visas to reducing service hours at innumerable agencies – a primary channel through which a shutdown affects the economy is through withheld or foregone pay from federal employees who don’t receive their paychecks. Since consumer spending makes up a majority of economic activity in the United States, withholding pay from a large fraction of the workforce can introduce a significant economic speed bump in the short run. And that’s exactly what we saw in 2013. Similar to the situation today, a partisan standoff in Congress led to a partial shutdown of the government that lasted a little over two weeks beginning on Oct. 1 of that year. Well over a million federal employees were affected and didn’t receive a paycheck during the shutdown. Some were furloughed – sent home and told not to do anything related to their job. Those deemed “essential” or “exempted” – such as security personnel screening passengers at airport or border patrol agents – were required to continue working at their jobs, despite no pay at that time. The government eventually paid both groups the money owed them, regardless of whether they worked, after Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement on Oct. 16. My colleague Yannelis and I sought to understand how households responded by tracking how they behaved in the days leading up to, during and following the shutdown using detailed financial data. We obtained this anonymized data from a personal finance website where people track their income, expenses, savings and debt. Using the paycheck transaction descriptions, we identified over 60,000 households that contained employees of federal agencies affected by the shutdown. These affected employees included both those who were asked to work without pay and those who were furloughed. As a comparison group, we also identified over 90,000 households with a member who worked for a state government. That would likely mean they have fairly similar levels of education, experience and financial security, yet their paychecks were unaffected by the shutdown. Who will be blamed for a government shutdown? AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Short-term impact on spending Our study led to two primary findings. First, we found that the shutdown led to an immediate decline in average household spending of almost 10 percent. Surprisingly, despite the fact that most federal workers have stable jobs and income sources, they were quick to cut spending on pretty much everything, from restaurants to clothing to electronics, just days after their pay was delayed. While households with less money in the bank cut their spending by larger amounts, even those with significant resources and easy access to credit reduced their expenditures. Second, households with a member who was furloughed and required to stay home from work slashed their spending more dramatically – by 15-20 percent, or almost twice as much as the average of those affected. This larger decline reflected the fact that these households suddenly had a lot more time on their hands. Rather than going out to eat or paying for child care for example, they were able to spend more time cooking and watching their own children. This behavior is what tends to spread the economic effects of a shutdown that affects a slice of the population to a wider group of businesses and individuals. And in regions with substantial numbers of federal workers, these declines in spending can greatly hurt the health of the local economy in the short run. Depending on how long the impasse lasts, lawmakers may need to order some pizzas, as they did in 2013. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Long-term impact? Whether or not a shutdown has a longer-term economic impact depends on whether employees are paid their foregone wages after its conclusion – and how long it lasts. In 2013, the government repaid even furloughed workers what they would have earned had the shutdown not happened. This repayment, essentially increasing the size of their first post-shutdown paychecks, had significant and immediate effects on household spending. A sudden spike in spending occurred in the days after the paychecks were disbursed, largely erasing some of the most dramatic declines in spending during the previous two weeks. The government has usually paid all its employees, “essential” or not, back pay after other past shutdowns, such as those in the 1990s. While Congress is legally required to pay federal employees who worked during the shutdown, there’s no law requiring the same treatment for nonessential workers. In addition, the longer the shutdown lasts, the worse its impact. Households might deplete savings or hit their credit card limits as the impasse stretches day after day, giving them additional time to adjust their spending in ways that they could not do with only a few days’ notice. For instance, in 2013, bills like health insurance or tuition payments were largely unaffected. Had that shutdown persisted, households may have started to cut back here as well. So if Congress refuses to offer furloughed workers back pay and the shutdown lasts weeks rather than days, the economic impact could be severe. However, if a shutdown is resolved in a relatively short amount of time, with workers being paid back their regular income, the damage would likely be fairly contained. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Opinion: Longer US government shutdown lasts, the worse its impact