One month into the longest-ever funding impasse in modern American history, there is little evidence to suggest that Donald Trump and congressional Democrats will come together to end the government shutdown anytime soon.
Over the past 31 days, Washington politicians have squabbled as the impacts of the shutdown have piled up.
At first, it was the headlines noting that rubbish was piling up inside America’s national parks. Then came the threats to government services such as food stamps and housing subsidies. Now, hundreds of thousands of federal employees are struggling to make ends meet without their regular paychecks.
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We’ve examined the impact of the shutdown by the numbers, and how it has impacted the broader US.
Government employees making do without income
Around 800,000 federal employees have been furloughed or told to come into work even though they are not being paid. That means that hundreds of thousands of people who live month to month have been forced to find ways to pay their mortgages, put food on the table and even pay for petrol to drive to the jobs they are not being paid to do
Nine departments impacted
The entire US government has not been shut down, but nine federal departments and agencies are feeling the squeeze.
Those which have been closed since funding ran out on 22 December include the Federal Aviation Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission. In closed agencies and departments, only employees considered “essential” have been told to come to work without pay until the shutdown ends.
1/50 21 January 2019
Target of a suicide bombing claimed by Isis, a military vehicle from a US-Kurdish convoy burns at the roadside in Syria’s northeastern Hasakeh province. Five people were killed and two US soldiers injured
AFP/Getty
2/50 20 January 2019
Protesters take part in a demonstration near the Greek Parliament against the agreement with Skopje to rename neighbouring country Macedonia as the Republic of North Macedonia, in Athens. The proposal faces resistance in Greece because of what critics see as the implied claims to Greek land and cultural heritage. For most Greeks, Macedonia is the name of their history-rich northern province made famous by Alexander the Great’s conquests
AFP/Getty
3/50 19 January 2019
A man, injured during clashes with French police, is given help during a demonstration in Paris, called by the yellow vests (gilets jaunes) movement in a row of nationwide protest for the tenth consecutive Saturday against high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more “social and economic justice.”
AFP/Getty
4/50 18 January 2019
Palestinian women from the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, scuffle with Israeli soldiers as they try to release a boy from their custody, during clashes following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian lands by Israel
AFP/Getty
5/50 17 January 2019
Three people have been injured in a massive explosion on the roof of a La Doua university building in Lyon, France
AFP/Getty
6/50 16 January 2019
Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force members perform during their passing out parade in Kalutara
Reuters
7/50 15 January 2019
Cars are seen on fire at the scene where explosions and gunshots were heard at the Dusit hotel compound, in Nairobi, Kenya
Reuters
8/50 14 January 2019
Emergency workers and people near the wreckage of a Boeing 707 military cargo plane which crashed on the west of the Iranian capital, near Fath airport. At least 15 people were killed
Tasnim News Agency/Reuters
9/50 13 January 2019
Thousands of people march during a demonstration organized by the citizen’s network Sare, which is calling for an immediate end to the dispersal policy and the violation of rights suffered by ETA prisoners in Bilbao, Spain.
Getty
10/50 12 January 2019
Firefighters extinguish a fire after the explosion of a bakery on the corner of the streets Saint-Cecile and Rue de Trevise in central Paris
AFP/Getty
11/50 11 January 2019
Workers shovel snow out of a restaurant after an avalanche at Santis-Schwaegalp mountain resort, in Switzerland
Reuters
12/50 10 January 2019
Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, leader of the Congolese main opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress who was announced as the winner of the presidential elections; celebrate along the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Reuters
13/50 9 January 2019
Philippine Coast Guards keep watch as Roman Catholic devotees cross the bridge in a raucous procession of the Black Nazarene to celebrate its feast day in Manila. Tens of thousands of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics joined the annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene which usually ends before dawn the next day
AP
14/50 8 January 2019
A car trapped in snowdrifts in southeastern Poland. Many cities in whole Poland have been affected by snowfall
EPA
15/50 7 January 2019
Actor Kevin Spacey pleaded non-guilty to sexual assault charge at Nantucket District Court in Massachusetts. The Oscar-winning actor is accused of groping the teenage son of a former Boston TV anchor in 2016 in a crowded bar at the Club Car in Nantucket
Reuters
16/50 6 January 2019
A gentoo penguin is seen during a promotional event during an annual ice festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China
Reuters
17/50 5 January 2019
Snow covers the statue of Alexander the Great at the seaside promenade of Thessaloniki, Greece
Reuters
18/50 4 January 2019
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a commercial market in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Reuters
19/50 3 January 2019
AFP/Getty
20/50 2 January 2019
Two men walk past a damaged cargo train after an accident in Nyborg, Denmark. Several people were killed in the crash on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, police said
AFP/Getty
21/50 1 January 2019
Emergency officers transporting a baby survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia’s Urals city of Magnitogorsk. Russian rescuers have been forced to temporarily halt the search for dozens of missing people in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise apartment block as the building risked crumbling further, officials said, with the incident claiming at least seven lives. Part of the 10-storey building collapsed following a gas explosion on the morning of December 31, in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, east of Moscow in the Ural mountains
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry/AFP/Getty
22/50 31 December 2018
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney
AP
23/50 30 December 2018
Bangladeshi army personnel drive a military vehicle through a street adorned with election posters near a polling station in Dhaka. Bangladesh headed to the polls following a weeks-long campaign that was dominated by deadly violence and allegations of a crackdown on thousands of opposition activists.
AFP/Getty
24/50 29 December 2018
Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli speaks to journalists as he arrives at the hospital where Vietnamese victims of an attack on a tourist bus where taken, in Al-Haram district in the Egyptian capital Cairo’s western twin city of Giza. – Three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide were killed on December 28 when a roadside bomb blast hit their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids outside Cairo, officials said.
AFP/Getty
25/50 28 December 2018
Bright blue light is seen after a transformer explosion at an electric power station in the New York City borough of Queens
Reuters
26/50 27 December 2018
The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. Residents of the tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a ‘comprehensive investigation’ into a crack on the tenth floor of the building. Emergency services were called on the afternoon of the 24 December after residents of the building had heard cracking sounds throughout the morning
EPA
27/50 26 December 2018
A young man dressed in a Father Christmas suit distributes gifts to children in the old city of Mosul
AFP/Getty
28/50 25 December 2018
A participant in a Santa Claus costume jumps into the water during the 109th edition of the ‘Copa Nadal’ (Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona’s Port Vell. The traditional 200-meter Christmas swimming race gathered more than 300 participants on Barcelona’s old harbour
AFP/Getty
29/50 24 December 2018
US President Donald Trump speaks on the telephone as he answers calls from people calling into the NORAD Santa tracker phone line in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington
AFP/Getty
30/50 23 December 2018
An aerial photo shows damaged buildings in Carita after the area was hit by a tsunami on December 22 following an eruption of the Anak Krakatoa volcano. The volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia’s Sunda Strait. Officials voiced fears that the toll was set to rise
AFP/Getty
31/50 22 December 2018
Protesters wearing a yellow vest (gilet jaune) stand next to a burning barricade as they demonstrate against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes at the A9 highway toll of Le Boulou, southern France. The “Yellow Vests” (Gilets Jaunes) movement in France originally started as a protest about planned fuel hikes but has morphed into a mass protest against President’s policies and top-down style of governing
AFP/Getty
32/50 21 December 2018
A Palestinian man wearing a Santa Claus outfit hands a flower to man in a wheelchair during a demonstration near the border between Israel and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
AFP/Getty
33/50 20 December 2018
Moroccan authorities investigate the scene of the grisly murder of two Scandinavian women at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. The suspects in the killings have pledged alleigance to ISIS
AP
34/50 19 December 2018
Supporters of Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Martin Fayulu gesture number four (the candidate number on the electoral list) as they protest in Kinshasa after campaigning was called off by the authorities on security grounds
Getty
35/50 17 December 2018
Pyongyang residents prepare to lay flowers at the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il during National Memorial Day on Mansu Hill. North Korea is marking the seventh anniversary of the death of Kim Jong II
AFP/Getty
36/50 16 December 2018
Firefighters work on site where a large explosion occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo. According to local media reports, an explosion that triggered a fire occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo in the evening of 16 December. At least 20 people have been reported injured and taken to hospitals.
EPA
37/50 15 December 2018
A supporter wears a cast on her broken wrist with ‘I (heart) Obamacare’ written on it . A federal judge in Texas ruled that the US health care law known as Obamacare is unconstitutional — a ruling that opposition Democrats vowed to appeal. US District Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by several Republican state attorneys general and a governor opposed to the federal government health plan, known officially as the Affordable Care Act
EPA
38/50 14 December 2018
A Palestinian carries a flaming tyre amid clashes with Israeli forces. Israel carried out raids in the West Bank today in search of a Palestinian who shot dead two soldiers yesterday
AFP/Getty
39/50 13 December 2018
Yemen’s foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani (L) and the head rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam shake hands during peace talks in Sweden that are being overseen by the UN
AFP
40/50 12 December 2018
Baby monkeys play on a wall of India’s parliament in New Delhi. Macaque monkeys have swarmed the parliament, destroying important documents, attacking government officials and generally menacing the state
Reuters
41/50 11 December 2018
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes British Prime Minister Theresa May at the chancellery in Berlin. May postponed the Brexit deal Meaningful Vote, on 11 December due to risk of rejection from Members of Parliament. She is currently on a whistle stop tour of Europe calling on the leaders of the Netherlands, Germany and EU in Brussels looking for new guide lines for her Northern Ireland backstop
EPA
42/50 10 December 2018
Police investigate after an empty school bus crashed in the North Point district of Hong Kong. Two people were killed when a school bus mounted a pavement in a crowded Hong Kong neighbourhood, trapping passers-by underneath and injuring 13, police said
AFP/Getty
43/50 9 December 2018
A Boca Juniors’ fan cheers at a viewing in Buenos Aires for the Copa Libertadores final against rivals River Plate. The match is being held in Madrid, a neutral ground, after it was twice delayed due to violence
AP
44/50 8 December 2018
Protestors wearing “yellow vests” (gilets jaunes) clash with riot police near the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris during a protest against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes. – Paris was on high alert with major security measures in place ahead of fresh “yellow vest” protests which authorities fear could turn violent for a second weekend in a row.
AFP/Getty
45/50 7 December 2018
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reacts after being elected to leader of the Christian Democratic Union, succeeding the 18 year reign of Angela Merkel
Getty
46/50 6 December 2018
Police use tear gas against protesters during a demonstration in Athens to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a fatal shooting of a teenager which sparked major riots in Greece in 2008
AFP/Getty
47/50 5 December 2018
The flag-draped casket of former US President George HW Bush is carried by military pallbearers past US President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former first lady Hillary Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter as it arrives at his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral
Reuters
48/50 4 December 2018
High school students burn a barricade in front of their high school during a demonstration against French government Education reforms
AFP/Getty
49/50 3 December 2018
Sully, the service dog of former US President George HW Bush in his final months, lays in front of Bush’s casket at the George H Lewis & Sons funeral home in Houston, Texas
Courtesy Office of George HW Bush/Reuters
50/50 2 December 2018
Demonstrators march in Brussels to ‘claim the climate’ as world leaders meet in Poland to discuss the Paris climate agreement targets
AP
1/50 21 January 2019
Target of a suicide bombing claimed by Isis, a military vehicle from a US-Kurdish convoy burns at the roadside in Syria’s northeastern Hasakeh province. Five people were killed and two US soldiers injured
AFP/Getty
2/50 20 January 2019
Protesters take part in a demonstration near the Greek Parliament against the agreement with Skopje to rename neighbouring country Macedonia as the Republic of North Macedonia, in Athens. The proposal faces resistance in Greece because of what critics see as the implied claims to Greek land and cultural heritage. For most Greeks, Macedonia is the name of their history-rich northern province made famous by Alexander the Great’s conquests
AFP/Getty
3/50 19 January 2019
A man, injured during clashes with French police, is given help during a demonstration in Paris, called by the yellow vests (gilets jaunes) movement in a row of nationwide protest for the tenth consecutive Saturday against high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more “social and economic justice.”
AFP/Getty
4/50 18 January 2019
Palestinian women from the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, scuffle with Israeli soldiers as they try to release a boy from their custody, during clashes following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian lands by Israel
AFP/Getty
5/50 17 January 2019
Three people have been injured in a massive explosion on the roof of a La Doua university building in Lyon, France
AFP/Getty
6/50 16 January 2019
Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force members perform during their passing out parade in Kalutara
Reuters
7/50 15 January 2019
Cars are seen on fire at the scene where explosions and gunshots were heard at the Dusit hotel compound, in Nairobi, Kenya
Reuters
8/50 14 January 2019
Emergency workers and people near the wreckage of a Boeing 707 military cargo plane which crashed on the west of the Iranian capital, near Fath airport. At least 15 people were killed
Tasnim News Agency/Reuters
9/50 13 January 2019
Thousands of people march during a demonstration organized by the citizen’s network Sare, which is calling for an immediate end to the dispersal policy and the violation of rights suffered by ETA prisoners in Bilbao, Spain.
Getty
10/50 12 January 2019
Firefighters extinguish a fire after the explosion of a bakery on the corner of the streets Saint-Cecile and Rue de Trevise in central Paris
AFP/Getty
11/50 11 January 2019
Workers shovel snow out of a restaurant after an avalanche at Santis-Schwaegalp mountain resort, in Switzerland
Reuters
12/50 10 January 2019
Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, leader of the Congolese main opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress who was announced as the winner of the presidential elections; celebrate along the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Reuters
13/50 9 January 2019
Philippine Coast Guards keep watch as Roman Catholic devotees cross the bridge in a raucous procession of the Black Nazarene to celebrate its feast day in Manila. Tens of thousands of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics joined the annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene which usually ends before dawn the next day
AP
14/50 8 January 2019
A car trapped in snowdrifts in southeastern Poland. Many cities in whole Poland have been affected by snowfall
EPA
15/50 7 January 2019
Actor Kevin Spacey pleaded non-guilty to sexual assault charge at Nantucket District Court in Massachusetts. The Oscar-winning actor is accused of groping the teenage son of a former Boston TV anchor in 2016 in a crowded bar at the Club Car in Nantucket
Reuters
16/50 6 January 2019
A gentoo penguin is seen during a promotional event during an annual ice festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China
Reuters
17/50 5 January 2019
Snow covers the statue of Alexander the Great at the seaside promenade of Thessaloniki, Greece
Reuters
18/50 4 January 2019
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a commercial market in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Reuters
19/50 3 January 2019
AFP/Getty
20/50 2 January 2019
Two men walk past a damaged cargo train after an accident in Nyborg, Denmark. Several people were killed in the crash on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, police said
AFP/Getty
21/50 1 January 2019
Emergency officers transporting a baby survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia’s Urals city of Magnitogorsk. Russian rescuers have been forced to temporarily halt the search for dozens of missing people in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise apartment block as the building risked crumbling further, officials said, with the incident claiming at least seven lives. Part of the 10-storey building collapsed following a gas explosion on the morning of December 31, in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, east of Moscow in the Ural mountains
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry/AFP/Getty
22/50 31 December 2018
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney
AP
23/50 30 December 2018
Bangladeshi army personnel drive a military vehicle through a street adorned with election posters near a polling station in Dhaka. Bangladesh headed to the polls following a weeks-long campaign that was dominated by deadly violence and allegations of a crackdown on thousands of opposition activists.
AFP/Getty
24/50 29 December 2018
Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli speaks to journalists as he arrives at the hospital where Vietnamese victims of an attack on a tourist bus where taken, in Al-Haram district in the Egyptian capital Cairo’s western twin city of Giza. – Three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide were killed on December 28 when a roadside bomb blast hit their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids outside Cairo, officials said.
AFP/Getty
25/50 28 December 2018
Bright blue light is seen after a transformer explosion at an electric power station in the New York City borough of Queens
Reuters
26/50 27 December 2018
The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. Residents of the tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a ‘comprehensive investigation’ into a crack on the tenth floor of the building. Emergency services were called on the afternoon of the 24 December after residents of the building had heard cracking sounds throughout the morning
EPA
27/50 26 December 2018
A young man dressed in a Father Christmas suit distributes gifts to children in the old city of Mosul
AFP/Getty
28/50 25 December 2018
A participant in a Santa Claus costume jumps into the water during the 109th edition of the ‘Copa Nadal’ (Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona’s Port Vell. The traditional 200-meter Christmas swimming race gathered more than 300 participants on Barcelona’s old harbour
AFP/Getty
29/50 24 December 2018
US President Donald Trump speaks on the telephone as he answers calls from people calling into the NORAD Santa tracker phone line in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington
AFP/Getty
30/50 23 December 2018
An aerial photo shows damaged buildings in Carita after the area was hit by a tsunami on December 22 following an eruption of the Anak Krakatoa volcano. The volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia’s Sunda Strait. Officials voiced fears that the toll was set to rise
AFP/Getty
31/50 22 December 2018
Protesters wearing a yellow vest (gilet jaune) stand next to a burning barricade as they demonstrate against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes at the A9 highway toll of Le Boulou, southern France. The “Yellow Vests” (Gilets Jaunes) movement in France originally started as a protest about planned fuel hikes but has morphed into a mass protest against President’s policies and top-down style of governing
AFP/Getty
32/50 21 December 2018
A Palestinian man wearing a Santa Claus outfit hands a flower to man in a wheelchair during a demonstration near the border between Israel and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
AFP/Getty
33/50 20 December 2018
Moroccan authorities investigate the scene of the grisly murder of two Scandinavian women at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. The suspects in the killings have pledged alleigance to ISIS
AP
34/50 19 December 2018
Supporters of Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Martin Fayulu gesture number four (the candidate number on the electoral list) as they protest in Kinshasa after campaigning was called off by the authorities on security grounds
Getty
35/50 17 December 2018
Pyongyang residents prepare to lay flowers at the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il during National Memorial Day on Mansu Hill. North Korea is marking the seventh anniversary of the death of Kim Jong II
AFP/Getty
36/50 16 December 2018
Firefighters work on site where a large explosion occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo. According to local media reports, an explosion that triggered a fire occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo in the evening of 16 December. At least 20 people have been reported injured and taken to hospitals.
EPA
37/50 15 December 2018
A supporter wears a cast on her broken wrist with ‘I (heart) Obamacare’ written on it . A federal judge in Texas ruled that the US health care law known as Obamacare is unconstitutional — a ruling that opposition Democrats vowed to appeal. US District Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by several Republican state attorneys general and a governor opposed to the federal government health plan, known officially as the Affordable Care Act
EPA
38/50 14 December 2018
A Palestinian carries a flaming tyre amid clashes with Israeli forces. Israel carried out raids in the West Bank today in search of a Palestinian who shot dead two soldiers yesterday
AFP/Getty
39/50 13 December 2018
Yemen’s foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani (L) and the head rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam shake hands during peace talks in Sweden that are being overseen by the UN
AFP
40/50 12 December 2018
Baby monkeys play on a wall of India’s parliament in New Delhi. Macaque monkeys have swarmed the parliament, destroying important documents, attacking government officials and generally menacing the state
Reuters
41/50 11 December 2018
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes British Prime Minister Theresa May at the chancellery in Berlin. May postponed the Brexit deal Meaningful Vote, on 11 December due to risk of rejection from Members of Parliament. She is currently on a whistle stop tour of Europe calling on the leaders of the Netherlands, Germany and EU in Brussels looking for new guide lines for her Northern Ireland backstop
EPA
42/50 10 December 2018
Police investigate after an empty school bus crashed in the North Point district of Hong Kong. Two people were killed when a school bus mounted a pavement in a crowded Hong Kong neighbourhood, trapping passers-by underneath and injuring 13, police said
AFP/Getty
43/50 9 December 2018
A Boca Juniors’ fan cheers at a viewing in Buenos Aires for the Copa Libertadores final against rivals River Plate. The match is being held in Madrid, a neutral ground, after it was twice delayed due to violence
AP
44/50 8 December 2018
Protestors wearing “yellow vests” (gilets jaunes) clash with riot police near the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris during a protest against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes. – Paris was on high alert with major security measures in place ahead of fresh “yellow vest” protests which authorities fear could turn violent for a second weekend in a row.
AFP/Getty
45/50 7 December 2018
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reacts after being elected to leader of the Christian Democratic Union, succeeding the 18 year reign of Angela Merkel
Getty
46/50 6 December 2018
Police use tear gas against protesters during a demonstration in Athens to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a fatal shooting of a teenager which sparked major riots in Greece in 2008
AFP/Getty
47/50 5 December 2018
The flag-draped casket of former US President George HW Bush is carried by military pallbearers past US President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former first lady Hillary Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter as it arrives at his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral
Reuters
48/50 4 December 2018
High school students burn a barricade in front of their high school during a demonstration against French government Education reforms
AFP/Getty
49/50 3 December 2018
Sully, the service dog of former US President George HW Bush in his final months, lays in front of Bush’s casket at the George H Lewis & Sons funeral home in Houston, Texas
Courtesy Office of George HW Bush/Reuters
50/50 2 December 2018
Demonstrators march in Brussels to ‘claim the climate’ as world leaders meet in Poland to discuss the Paris climate agreement targets
AP
The departments that have not been impacted include the Defence Department, which congress and Mr Trump had already funded until the end of the 2019 fiscal year.
Other agencies such as the US Federal Reserve and US Postal Service have managed because they rely on funding that comes separately from congress.
US economy slowing
The chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Kevin Hassett, has estimated that the shutdown has cut US economic output by about 0.13 per cent each week. That includes lost work from government contractors, as well as lost spending and investing by federal employees who don’t have money to spend without a paycheque.
Others have estimated a similar substantial risk for the shutdown, with New York Federal Reserve president John Williams saying the US economy could see a cut in economic growth by 1 per cent this year as a result of the shutdown.
Inspections are falling behind
Regulations, inspections, and government approvals are falling behind.
Since the shutdown came into effect in December, a number of services provided by the government have been curtailed.
That includes US food inspections – except in some instances where high risk has been involved – as well as government approval for things such as expanding airline fleets.
In addition, some fishing boats in Alaska have been docked because of the shutdown, the Securities and Exchange Commission cannot approve initial public offerings for companies, and safety inspections and reviews for new drugs may run out of funding.
Thirteen shutdowns since 1981
The US has seen 13 shutdowns since 1981, with many lasting just a short period of time. The previous record holder ran 21 days from December 1995 until January 1996.
These shutdowns are relevant here because, before 1981, government agencies continued to operate as normal and expenses were covered retroactively once the government was reopened.
Some 42,000 immigration court hearings cancelled or postponed
Mr Trump has demanded $5.7bn to fund the border wall he made a central campaign promise in 2016, citing a broken US immigration system that has allowed drugs and criminals to flow easily into the country.
But, the government shutdown is putting a greater burden on the system than before, and a Syracuse University estimate indicates that 42,000 immigration court hearings have been pushed back or cancelled.
The shutdown has had a ripple effect beyond just the government
The shutdown’s impact has been felt well beyond those in the federal workforce. Since the shutdown began, airlines have reported a dip in customers while major businesses have been hit, too.
Other, less obvious industries, have also been impacted: brewers, for example, have been unable to get government approval for labels on their new or seasonal products.
And consumers are beginning to take note, with the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index falling in January to its lowest level since Mr Trump became president.
No end in sight
After several meetings between Mr Trump and congressional leaders such as speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the president offered on Saturday to strike a deal that would include the $5.7bn he has asked to build the wall, as well as temporary relief for so-called Dreamers through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that Mr Trump took steps to end after becoming president. But Democrats have appeared uninterested in striking that sort of deal, and have remained largely united in their opposition to giving the president border wall funding.
Notably, some Republicans have begun indicating that they are less interested in the president’s wall than they are in getting the government back up and running, with at least three in the Senate saying they want to vote on funding with or without wall provisions. That group has included Colorado senator Cory Gardner, Maine senator Susan Collins, and Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski.
But Mr Trump has said he is willing to keep the shutdown running for months or even years. We’ll see how serious he is about that.
Comment