From Wikipedia:
"The following is a list of government agencies and operations affected by the United States federal government shutdown of 2013"
American Battle Monuments Commission:
The American Battle Monuments Commission operates 24 cemeteries on foreign soil for American servicemen killed overseas. These cemeteries, as well as 26 monuments to American servicemen, will stay closed through the shutdown.
Congress:
Although members of Congress are themselves guaranteed to get paid during the shutdown, they have wide latitude in deciding which employees to keep on the job and which, if any, to furlough. Many members have elected to keep their entire staff on payroll "in order to continue serving...constituents". Other members have furloughed half or most of their staffs, possibly on a rotating basis, or closed their local office while keeping their Washington office open and at least partially staffed. The House members' gym has been directed to remain operational while the gym for Congressional staff will close as planned. Dozens of House members live in their government offices to save personal expenses and use the House gym to shower.
Consumer Product Safety Commission:
The Consumer Product Safety Commission won't investigate or recall products that might cause injuries but don't pose an imminent danger to safety. CPSC has furloughed port inspectors who test to make sure that imported products meet safety standards, for instance verifying that children's toys do not contain excessive amounts of lead or that sleepwear meets flammability standards. The Commission furloughed all but 23 of its 540 employees.
Department of Agriculture:
Meat, poultry, and grain inspectors will keep working. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will not issue any statistical or economic reports, including those on the prices and supply levels of agricultural goods. These reports are especially important to commodities markets. Campgrounds and other recreational sites will be closed. The Agricultural Research Service and the Foreign Agricultural Service will shut down. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, may be greatly curtailed. The government will not contribute any new money into the program, which gives food for low-income pregnant women, mothers, and young children. Some states may be able to keep running the program with current money for about a week. The larger Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also called food stamps or EBT cards, is funded by the Recovery Act and will last through 2014.
The Forest Service closed its offices and furloughed the vast majority of its staff, with only some law enforcement and firefighting staff staying on duty. As a result of the furloughs, timber companies have been ordered to stop logging operations in the 155 National Forests within seven days. Initially, the agency was able to keep a number of campgrounds and recreation areas open, but as the shutdown extends into its second week, many of those sites are being closed as well. Forest Service spokesman Leo Kay said the closures of concession-operated campgrounds were necessary because the staff who manage and oversee concession contracts have been furloughed. Regarding the closure of the Maroon Bells Recreation Area, Scott Fitzwilliams, forest supervisor of the White River National Forest in Colorado, said “We have no funding to pay rangers to manage the site or collect fees, no funding to pump toilets, test water supplies and extremely limited law enforcement capabilities. If we allowed vehicles to access the area, where would the people go to the bathroom? Where would they put their garbage?”
The National Organic Program, which confirms that food labeled as organic actually meets organic standards, has been suspended as has a program that confirms that imported foods are correctly labeled with their country of origin.
The USDA stopped issuing mortgages to families in rural areas, causing delays for some people who were in the process of purchasing a new home. USDA's Rural Housing Service handles about 132,000 mortgages a year, or about 1.4% of all mortgages in the United States. Families can qualify for a USDA mortgage if they make up to 115% of the median income in their area.
Department of Commerce:
The Commerce Department will furlough 40,234 of its 46,420 employees. The United States Patent and Trademark Office will stay open for three to four weeks using funds from the fees it collects. The National Weather Service will keep providing weather forecasts, watches, and warnings normally, as they are critical to protecting lives and property. Some activities related to weather research and developing improvements to the Global Forecast System will cease. The Commerce Department will not release data on the state of the economy.
Department of Defense:
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter issued a memo detailing which employees would be furloughed. On September 28, 2013, Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado introduced the Pay Our Military Act. The bill would "appropriate funds to pay the military at any time in FY 2014 when appropriations are not in effect", a situation which would include any potential shutdown. It passed both the House and Senate, and the President signed it into law, recording a video message for members of the military. Food prices for many military personnel, their families, and retirees are expected to rise due to the closure of the Defense Commissary Agency. This agency runs 178 commissaries, or grocery stores, in the US which offer food at about a 30% discount for military families. The 68 commissaries overseas will stay open. Furloughs of Defense Department civilian employees have grounded Air Force fighter squadrons. Air Combat Command has grounded squadrons based in the US that aren't set to deploy abroad until after January. This includes the 366th Fighter Wing based out of Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. The Pentagon has also furloughed civilian specialists who help craft military policy towards the Middle East. As of October 6, the Pay Our Military Act was interpreted by lawyers from the Defense and Justice Departments to allow nearly all civilian Defense personnel to return to work, on the basis that they "contribute to the morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members." Death benefits for the families of soldiers killed in action during the shutdown will be provided by funds from a private foundation, which will then be repaid by the Defense Department after appropriations are enacted.
Military Academies:
The United States service academies have been affected by the shutdown in various ways. Civilian faculty members have been furloughed, and many classes have been canceled. The library at the United States Air Force Academy has been closed. The libraries at the Academy United States Naval and the United States Military Academy are open, but students can't check out books. The library at the United States Military Academy is currently being staffed by the musicians of the West Point Band. Intercollegiate athletics have been suspended.
Department of Education:
The U.S. Department of Education will furlough 3,983 of its 4,225 employees. The government will continue to disburse Pell Grants and other student loans, but the furloughs may cause delays and will limit the department's ability to respond to questions. In its contingency plan for a shutdown, the Department of Education warns that a "protracted delay in Department obligations and payments beyond one week would severely curtail the cash flow to school districts, colleges and universities, and vocational rehabilitation agencies that depend on the Department's funds to support their services". The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has suspended investigations into whether certain colleges and universities have mishandled their response to sexual assault on campus as well as investigations into whether colleges have failed to report crimes as required by the Clery Act.
Department of Energy:
The U.S. Department of Energy will furlough 9,584 of its 13,814 employees. Those working will continue to work and be paid until reserve funds are exhausted.
Department of Health and Human Services:
A reported 52% of Health and Human Services employees are to be furloughed. The Head Start Program, which provides preschool and other services to young children nationwide, did not provide grant money to 23 programs in 11 states. These programs were scheduled to receive funding on October 1. Among the Head Start programs that temporarily closed was one serving 900 children in Prentiss, Mississippi. Child agences of the HHS were also affected:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not be able to conduct "in-depth investigations to identify and link outbreaks that may be occurring simultaneously in multiple states" or provide flu surveillance due to the furloughing of 68% of its employees.
Food and Drug Administration:
Approximately 45% of the Food and Drug Administration's 14,779 employees will be furloughed. The FDA will stop routine food safety inspections as well as most of its laboratory research. Employees will still handle emergencies and high-risk product recalls.
National Institutes of Health:
The National Institutes of Health will cease research conducted at its headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland and will not enroll new patients in medical trials. NIH recently completed one round of grantmaking to outside researchers and applications for the next round are due on October 5. If the shutdown is not prolonged, approval of new grants should not be disrupted. In rare cases, medical researchers who have received grants from NIH may have difficulty accessing funds. The related National Institute of Environmental Health Science will also cease research conducted at its headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. On the NIH official website, a warning was posted as a banner headline on all of its pages that read, "Due to the lapse in government funding, the information on this web site may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the web site may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted."
Department of Homeland Security:
About 86% of the Department of Homeland Security's 231,000 employees will continue to work during the shutdown. Airport screeners at the Transportation Security Administration will not be affected. 92% of the United States Secret Service, 88% of the United States Coast Guard, 88% of Customs and Border Protection and 78% of the Federal Emergency Management Agency will continue working. 97% of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services will stay on the job. The Department of Homeland Security shut down the E-Verify system, which enables employers to check whether the people they hire are eligible to work in the United States. A number of states require employers to use E-Verify for all new employees. For instance, Georgia requires all companies with more than 10 employees to use the system. The Department of Homeland Security will not accept or investigate civil liberties complaints and will not provide civil liberties training to state, local and federal officials. The Coast Guard will not issue licenses for commercial or recreational boats or their crews.The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia is closed. The center provides training for about 70,000 state, local, federal and international law enforcement officers every year.
Department of Housing and Urban Development:
The Federal Housing Administration will continue to process applications for new home loans. However, the agency will furlough more than 96% of its staff, resulting in delays.
Department of the Interior:
All 401 units of the National Park Service were closed, with only a limited number of law enforcement rangers and firefighters remaining on duty. On Oct 11, a small number of units, including Zion, Rocky Mountain and Capitol Reef national parks, were reopened temporarily, as some state governments agreed to provide bridge funding for a limited time to enable the parks to open. The United States Park Police will erect barriers around National Monuments in Washington D.C. and across the country. The list of closed sites includes Yosemite National Park, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Philadelphia's Independence Hall and City Tavern, Alcatraz, and numerous monuments in Washington D.C. including the Washington Monument and the World War II Memorial. The National Park Service will give visitors who are staying overnight in a National Park 48 hours to leave. Furthermore, its Flickr page became inactive. The Bureau of Land Management will stop processing new permits for oil and gas exploration but will continue to monitor and inspect existing production sites and pipelines. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will stop nearly all work on new offshore energy production. The shutdown has hampered efforts to find a hiker who has been reported missing at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve since September 23. The body of the hiker's companion was found previously. The search had been ongoing, but with the start of the shutdown, 16 park staffers were furloughed, hampering the response. The hiker's family has taken to asking for volunteers to continue the search.
Department of Justice:
85% of Justice Department employees will stay on the job. Law enforcement officers will stay on the job, but work on civil litigation will stop. For instance, the Justice Department filed a motion requesting to delay the antitrust trial over the American Airlines–US Airways merger. The Justice Department is also seeking to delay a lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation seeking information about government surveillance and a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking information on the use of armed drones. The nation's immigration courts have furloughed about 70% of their employees, including judges. The only cases that will be heard involve individuals who have already been detained. Since the courts were severely backlogged before the shutdown, those whose hearings were delayed might have to wait a year or more for another opportunity.
Department of Labor:
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will stop all workplace safety inspections that do not involve immediate danger or death. Investigations into wage theft and employment discrimination will stop. The Labor Department will continue to pay unemployment insurance and workers' compensation claims. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will stop conducting research on employment and the economy. The Bureau will stop work on the monthly report on employment. This report, which was scheduled for release on October 4, is widely used by financial markets to assess the state of the US economy. The Labor Department's weekly report on jobless claims will not be affected. Of the Labor Department's 16,304 employees, 82% will be furloughed, while 2,954 will stay on the job.
Department of State:
The U.S. Department of State will continue to process visa and passport applications, using funds from fees. Consular services will also continue. The department's Office of the Inspector General will shut down. The State Department has also instituted a hiring freeze and delayed the start dates of applicants who received job offers.
Department of Transportation:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will not issue any new automotive recalls. Consumers will be able to file car safety complaints but these complaints will not be acted on. The agency has suspended field investigations of automotive crashes. NHTSA did not send personnel to investigate a battery fire that destroyed a Tesla Model S electric car in Kent, Washington. The agency furloughed 333 of its 597 employees. The United States Merchant Marine Academy suspended classes. The United States Maritime Administration, which runs the academy, furloughed 451 of its 830 employees. The Federal Aviation Administration will furlough 15,500 of its 46,000 employees. Air traffic controllers will continue to work, but about 3,000 airline safety inspectors were furloughed and 800 of them were recalled again. Work on the Next Generation Air Transportation System will cease as will training for air traffic controllers and aviation policymaking.
Department of the Treasury:
The shutdown will undermine efforts by the United States to prevent money laundering and to enforce economic sanctions on Iran, North Korea and other countries. The Treasury Department has furloughed 90% of the staff of the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and 91% of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. These agencies handle reports of suspicious activity from banks and financial institutions and implement sanctions. The shutdown will delay the release of new alcoholic beverages. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau will not approve labels for alcoholic products and will not approve permits for distilleries, wineries, and breweries. The shutdown also delayed the signing of a treaty with France about the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
Internal Revenue Service:
The Internal Revenue Service will not provide assistance to taxpayers during the shutdown. Tax refunds are likely to be delayed, but taxpayers with an extension of their 2012 income tax return will still be required to submit the return by October 15. The IRS will suspend audits of taxpayers during the shutdown; however, IRS criminal investigations will continue at nearly normal levels. 90% of IRS employees will be furloughed. The IRS stopped issuing forms that are used to verify the income of mortgage applicants. These forms are often required by banks in order to close a mortgage. Because these forms are typically requested weeks before closing, the mortgage market is unlikely to experience a significant impact if the shutdown is of a brief duration. However, a shutdown that lasts beyond 1–2 weeks may cause a disruption.
Department of Veterans Affairs:
Medical services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs will be unaffected by the shutdown. Veterans have already received pension, disability, and GI Bill payments for the month of October. If the shutdown lasts for more than two or three weeks, the VA may not be able to pay benefits for the month of November. The VA will continue to work on disability claims that were filed before the shutdown, but veterans may experience delays. New disability claims will not be processed during the shutdown and all appeals of disability claims will be suspended.[68] The VA will furlough 14,224 of its 332,025 employees.
Environmental Protection Agency:
The Environmental Protection Agency will furlough over 93% of its 16,205 employees. The Agency will almost entirely cease issuing licenses and permits, which may cause delays for companies seeking to build or expand facilities. The agency will stop working on new policies in areas such as air pollution and renewable fuels. The EPA suspended cleanup work at 505 Superfund sites – areas contaminated by hazardous chemicals.
Federal Communications Commission:
The Federal Communications Commission will furlough about 98% of its 1,754 employees. The FCC will stop working on its approvals of mergers in the broadcast television industry. Among the deals that will be delayed are the $1.5 billion purchase of Belo by the Gannett Company, the $2.7 billion purchase of Local TV by the Tribune Company and the $985 million purchase of Allbritton Communications Company by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The FCC will suspend work on the testing and approval of new wireless products, such as cell phones. A prolonged government shutdown may delay the release of new products.
Federally funded research and development centers:
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) were affected in the shutdown. The Aerospace Corporation, which is the FFRDC for national security space, was directed to issue a stop work order to all but mission-critical tasks by United States Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, effectively furloughing 2,000 of its 3,500 employees.
General Services Administration:
The General Services Administration will furlough a large part of its 11,821 employees while maintaining an active workforce of about 4,094 to continue maintenance of federal property and to continue ongoing construction projects through the Public Buildings Service. Employees of the Federal Acquisition Service will not be immediately furloughed but may be subject to a phased shutdown that could take 25 business days.
Intelligence agencies:
Intelligence agencies will continue to operate but 70% of the civilian workforce will be furloughed. Reuters reported that the Central Intelligence Agency will furlough approximately 12,500 employees. There will be less of an impact at the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, as a large percentage of the workforce of these agencies are uniformed members of the military. However, NSA Director Keith B. Alexander said that the agency had furloughed "over 960 Ph.D.s, over 4,000 computer scientists, [and] over a thousand mathematicians." A spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence said: "The Intelligence Community's ability to identify threats and provide information for a broad set of national security decisions will be diminished for the duration. The immediate and significant reduction in employees on the job means that we will assume greater risk and our ability to support emerging intelligence requirements will be curtailed. The fraction of Intelligence Community employees who remain on the job will be stretched to the limit and forced to focus only on the most critical security needs."If the shutdown lasts for more than a few weeks intelligence operations could also be affected by delays in awarding new contracts or paying existing contractors. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board postponed hearings on NSA surveillance that were scheduled for October 4.
Library of Congress:
The Library of Congress has shut down. The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped ceased operations and all Library of Congress websites except for two sources of legislative information, THOMAS and congress.gov, were inaccessible. On October 3, 2013, access to all loc.gov websites was restored.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration:
NASA will furlough 97% of its staff, leaving fewer than 600 out of more than 18,000 employees on the job. NASA will continue to support the astronauts on the International Space Station and the agency will maintain spacecraft that have already launched. However, work with unmanned spacecraft will be minimal. The Hubble Space Telescope, Curiosity and Opportunity Mars rovers will continue to operate, but analysis of the data they collect will cease. Work on any spacecraft that have not yet launched will stop. The NASA.gov website, NASA TV, the organization's cable and IPTV network, were replaced by messages referring to the shutdown. NASA's LADEE mission will be in the critical phase of entering the Moon's orbit and so a few crews will be working on maintaining the spacecraft. No experiments will be conducted, however. An extended shutdown initially threatened to force a 26-month postponement of NASA's MAVEN mission to Mars. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch on November 18. If it does not launch by December 7 Mars will move too far out of alignment with the Earth. The next launch window will not occur until 2016. Bruce Jakosky, who is directing the mission, said that a 2016 launch would be less useful scientifically because the timing would correspond with a low point in the solar cycle. On October 3, Jakosky reported that NASA had deemed a 2013 MAVEN launch essential to ensuring future communication with current NASA assets on Mars—namely the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers—and that spacecraft processing had already been restarted in preparation for an on-time launch.
National Archives:
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will shut down all its archival facilities and the NARA-operated parts of Presidential Libraries. The NARA Federal Records Centers will remain open. Most NARA employees will be furloughed.
National Labor Relations Board:
The shutdown of the National Labor Relations Board, which furloughed all but 11 of its 1,600 employees, has led to delays in the process that handles disputes between labor and management. In New York City, a trial involving Cablevision and its employees has been delayed. The agency also oversees elections where workers vote on whether or not to unionize. These elections will be delayed for the duration of the shutdown. In one case, adjunct professors at Bentley University in Massachusetts held a vote over whether to unionize, but these votes may not be counted until after the shutdown ends.
National Science Foundation:
The National Science Foundation will not make payments to scientists during the shutdown. The NSF will not accept reports from grantees and will not respond to inquiries. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which is funded by the NSF, shut down three radio telescopes: the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, the Very Large Array in New Mexico and the Very Long Baseline Array which stretches from Hawaii to the US Virgin Islands. These telescopes are used by thousands of astronomers. One radio astronomer told the journal Science that a shutdown could render useless a yearlong project to trace the shape of the Milky Way which had already cost $500,000. 385 NRAO employees were furloughed. The United States Antarctic Program announced that it will move its three research stations to "caretaker" status, meaning that "[a]ll field and research activities not essential to human safety and preservation of property will be suspended". Most work at Antarctica is done between the months of October and February, when the region experiences summer. Because of the logistical difficulties involved in working in Antarctica, the shutdown may result in the cancellation of all American research in Antarctica for the entire 2013–2014 season. Scientists at McMurdo Station, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, and Palmer Station study topics such as biology, astrophysics and climate change.
National Transportation Safety Board:
The shutdown has reduced the ability of the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate aviation accidents. After the fatal crash of a Cessna Citation in Santa Monica, California, investigators collected perishable evidence from the scene but were then sent home.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees nuclear power in the United States, announced that it would furlough 3,600 of its 3,900 employees on October 10. About 300 personnel, including safety inspectors and a small emergency response unit will continue working. Operations that will cease include routine inspections involving nuclear materials and waste, emergency preparedness exercises, licensing of nuclear plants, and rulemaking. The NRC was able to delay furloughs by using leftover money from the previous year, but this funding ran out.
Office of Special Counsel:
The Office of Special Counsel has stopped investigating cases of government wrongdoing. Of the pending investigations that have stopped, 37 involve health and safety, including 19 that involve complaints of improper medical care at Veterans Administration hospitals. Investigations of overtime abuse have also stalled. Whistleblowers cannot report wrongdoing during the shutdown. The agency furloughed 107 of its 110 staff.
Small Business Administration:
The Small Business Administration will stop processing new loans to small businesses with the exception of loans to businesses affected by natural disasters. Existing loans will be unaffected. Programs that help mentor business owners, including businesses owned by veterans, will be shut down. About 62% of SBA employees will be furloughed.
Smithsonian Institution:
The Smithsonian Institution will shut down. Among the attractions that will be closed are the National Museum of Natural History, the National Air and Space Museum, and the National Zoological Park. Skeleton crews will be on site to provide security and to feed and care for the animals.
Social Security Administration:
The Social Security field offices would offer limited services, including hearings offices before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), though the card centers were closed. Beneficiaries of payment would continue to receive their dues. Online services would also continue, while the agency had a contingency plan.
The White House:
The Executive Office of the President furloughed 1265 employees out of a total of 1701. Within that total, the White House Office retained 129 staff members as exempt under the Antideficiency Act. (The other 117 are exempt under the Annual and Sick Leave Act.)
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will shut down as well as the United States Institute of Peace, a government think-tank. Another research institute, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, will continue operating with reduced staffing. Some parts of the Broadcasting Board of Governors have had to shut down due to a lapse in appropriations for the U.S. federal government, but BBG-supported media are still bringing news and information programs to audiences around the world. U.S. international media activities under the BBG that are deemed “foreign relations essential to national security,” such as news programming and distribution, are excepted from the shutdown and will continue.
^ I am including this list to show the numerous agencies. parks, monuments, museums, etc that people use everyday and how they are being affected by the Shutdown. ^
Department of Justice:
85% of Justice Department employees will stay on the job. Law enforcement officers will stay on the job, but work on civil litigation will stop. For instance, the Justice Department filed a motion requesting to delay the antitrust trial over the American Airlines–US Airways merger. The Justice Department is also seeking to delay a lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation seeking information about government surveillance and a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking information on the use of armed drones. The nation's immigration courts have furloughed about 70% of their employees, including judges. The only cases that will be heard involve individuals who have already been detained. Since the courts were severely backlogged before the shutdown, those whose hearings were delayed might have to wait a year or more for another opportunity.
Department of Labor:
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will stop all workplace safety inspections that do not involve immediate danger or death. Investigations into wage theft and employment discrimination will stop. The Labor Department will continue to pay unemployment insurance and workers' compensation claims. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will stop conducting research on employment and the economy. The Bureau will stop work on the monthly report on employment. This report, which was scheduled for release on October 4, is widely used by financial markets to assess the state of the US economy. The Labor Department's weekly report on jobless claims will not be affected. Of the Labor Department's 16,304 employees, 82% will be furloughed, while 2,954 will stay on the job.
Department of State:
The U.S. Department of State will continue to process visa and passport applications, using funds from fees. Consular services will also continue. The department's Office of the Inspector General will shut down. The State Department has also instituted a hiring freeze and delayed the start dates of applicants who received job offers.
Department of Transportation:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will not issue any new automotive recalls. Consumers will be able to file car safety complaints but these complaints will not be acted on. The agency has suspended field investigations of automotive crashes. NHTSA did not send personnel to investigate a battery fire that destroyed a Tesla Model S electric car in Kent, Washington. The agency furloughed 333 of its 597 employees. The United States Merchant Marine Academy suspended classes. The United States Maritime Administration, which runs the academy, furloughed 451 of its 830 employees. The Federal Aviation Administration will furlough 15,500 of its 46,000 employees. Air traffic controllers will continue to work, but about 3,000 airline safety inspectors were furloughed and 800 of them were recalled again. Work on the Next Generation Air Transportation System will cease as will training for air traffic controllers and aviation policymaking.
Department of the Treasury:
The shutdown will undermine efforts by the United States to prevent money laundering and to enforce economic sanctions on Iran, North Korea and other countries. The Treasury Department has furloughed 90% of the staff of the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and 91% of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. These agencies handle reports of suspicious activity from banks and financial institutions and implement sanctions. The shutdown will delay the release of new alcoholic beverages. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau will not approve labels for alcoholic products and will not approve permits for distilleries, wineries, and breweries. The shutdown also delayed the signing of a treaty with France about the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
Internal Revenue Service:
The Internal Revenue Service will not provide assistance to taxpayers during the shutdown. Tax refunds are likely to be delayed, but taxpayers with an extension of their 2012 income tax return will still be required to submit the return by October 15. The IRS will suspend audits of taxpayers during the shutdown; however, IRS criminal investigations will continue at nearly normal levels. 90% of IRS employees will be furloughed. The IRS stopped issuing forms that are used to verify the income of mortgage applicants. These forms are often required by banks in order to close a mortgage. Because these forms are typically requested weeks before closing, the mortgage market is unlikely to experience a significant impact if the shutdown is of a brief duration. However, a shutdown that lasts beyond 1–2 weeks may cause a disruption.
Department of Veterans Affairs:
Medical services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs will be unaffected by the shutdown. Veterans have already received pension, disability, and GI Bill payments for the month of October. If the shutdown lasts for more than two or three weeks, the VA may not be able to pay benefits for the month of November. The VA will continue to work on disability claims that were filed before the shutdown, but veterans may experience delays. New disability claims will not be processed during the shutdown and all appeals of disability claims will be suspended.[68] The VA will furlough 14,224 of its 332,025 employees.
Environmental Protection Agency:
The Environmental Protection Agency will furlough over 93% of its 16,205 employees. The Agency will almost entirely cease issuing licenses and permits, which may cause delays for companies seeking to build or expand facilities. The agency will stop working on new policies in areas such as air pollution and renewable fuels. The EPA suspended cleanup work at 505 Superfund sites – areas contaminated by hazardous chemicals.
Federal Communications Commission:
The Federal Communications Commission will furlough about 98% of its 1,754 employees. The FCC will stop working on its approvals of mergers in the broadcast television industry. Among the deals that will be delayed are the $1.5 billion purchase of Belo by the Gannett Company, the $2.7 billion purchase of Local TV by the Tribune Company and the $985 million purchase of Allbritton Communications Company by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The FCC will suspend work on the testing and approval of new wireless products, such as cell phones. A prolonged government shutdown may delay the release of new products.
Federally funded research and development centers:
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) were affected in the shutdown. The Aerospace Corporation, which is the FFRDC for national security space, was directed to issue a stop work order to all but mission-critical tasks by United States Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, effectively furloughing 2,000 of its 3,500 employees.
General Services Administration:
The General Services Administration will furlough a large part of its 11,821 employees while maintaining an active workforce of about 4,094 to continue maintenance of federal property and to continue ongoing construction projects through the Public Buildings Service. Employees of the Federal Acquisition Service will not be immediately furloughed but may be subject to a phased shutdown that could take 25 business days.
Intelligence agencies:
Intelligence agencies will continue to operate but 70% of the civilian workforce will be furloughed. Reuters reported that the Central Intelligence Agency will furlough approximately 12,500 employees. There will be less of an impact at the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, as a large percentage of the workforce of these agencies are uniformed members of the military. However, NSA Director Keith B. Alexander said that the agency had furloughed "over 960 Ph.D.s, over 4,000 computer scientists, [and] over a thousand mathematicians." A spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence said: "The Intelligence Community's ability to identify threats and provide information for a broad set of national security decisions will be diminished for the duration. The immediate and significant reduction in employees on the job means that we will assume greater risk and our ability to support emerging intelligence requirements will be curtailed. The fraction of Intelligence Community employees who remain on the job will be stretched to the limit and forced to focus only on the most critical security needs."If the shutdown lasts for more than a few weeks intelligence operations could also be affected by delays in awarding new contracts or paying existing contractors. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board postponed hearings on NSA surveillance that were scheduled for October 4.
Library of Congress:
The Library of Congress has shut down. The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped ceased operations and all Library of Congress websites except for two sources of legislative information, THOMAS and congress.gov, were inaccessible. On October 3, 2013, access to all loc.gov websites was restored.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration:
NASA will furlough 97% of its staff, leaving fewer than 600 out of more than 18,000 employees on the job. NASA will continue to support the astronauts on the International Space Station and the agency will maintain spacecraft that have already launched. However, work with unmanned spacecraft will be minimal. The Hubble Space Telescope, Curiosity and Opportunity Mars rovers will continue to operate, but analysis of the data they collect will cease. Work on any spacecraft that have not yet launched will stop. The NASA.gov website, NASA TV, the organization's cable and IPTV network, were replaced by messages referring to the shutdown. NASA's LADEE mission will be in the critical phase of entering the Moon's orbit and so a few crews will be working on maintaining the spacecraft. No experiments will be conducted, however. An extended shutdown initially threatened to force a 26-month postponement of NASA's MAVEN mission to Mars. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch on November 18. If it does not launch by December 7 Mars will move too far out of alignment with the Earth. The next launch window will not occur until 2016. Bruce Jakosky, who is directing the mission, said that a 2016 launch would be less useful scientifically because the timing would correspond with a low point in the solar cycle. On October 3, Jakosky reported that NASA had deemed a 2013 MAVEN launch essential to ensuring future communication with current NASA assets on Mars—namely the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers—and that spacecraft processing had already been restarted in preparation for an on-time launch.
National Archives:
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will shut down all its archival facilities and the NARA-operated parts of Presidential Libraries. The NARA Federal Records Centers will remain open. Most NARA employees will be furloughed.
National Labor Relations Board:
The shutdown of the National Labor Relations Board, which furloughed all but 11 of its 1,600 employees, has led to delays in the process that handles disputes between labor and management. In New York City, a trial involving Cablevision and its employees has been delayed. The agency also oversees elections where workers vote on whether or not to unionize. These elections will be delayed for the duration of the shutdown. In one case, adjunct professors at Bentley University in Massachusetts held a vote over whether to unionize, but these votes may not be counted until after the shutdown ends.
National Science Foundation:
The National Science Foundation will not make payments to scientists during the shutdown. The NSF will not accept reports from grantees and will not respond to inquiries. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which is funded by the NSF, shut down three radio telescopes: the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, the Very Large Array in New Mexico and the Very Long Baseline Array which stretches from Hawaii to the US Virgin Islands. These telescopes are used by thousands of astronomers. One radio astronomer told the journal Science that a shutdown could render useless a yearlong project to trace the shape of the Milky Way which had already cost $500,000. 385 NRAO employees were furloughed. The United States Antarctic Program announced that it will move its three research stations to "caretaker" status, meaning that "[a]ll field and research activities not essential to human safety and preservation of property will be suspended". Most work at Antarctica is done between the months of October and February, when the region experiences summer. Because of the logistical difficulties involved in working in Antarctica, the shutdown may result in the cancellation of all American research in Antarctica for the entire 2013–2014 season. Scientists at McMurdo Station, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, and Palmer Station study topics such as biology, astrophysics and climate change.
National Transportation Safety Board:
The shutdown has reduced the ability of the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate aviation accidents. After the fatal crash of a Cessna Citation in Santa Monica, California, investigators collected perishable evidence from the scene but were then sent home.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees nuclear power in the United States, announced that it would furlough 3,600 of its 3,900 employees on October 10. About 300 personnel, including safety inspectors and a small emergency response unit will continue working. Operations that will cease include routine inspections involving nuclear materials and waste, emergency preparedness exercises, licensing of nuclear plants, and rulemaking. The NRC was able to delay furloughs by using leftover money from the previous year, but this funding ran out.
Office of Special Counsel:
The Office of Special Counsel has stopped investigating cases of government wrongdoing. Of the pending investigations that have stopped, 37 involve health and safety, including 19 that involve complaints of improper medical care at Veterans Administration hospitals. Investigations of overtime abuse have also stalled. Whistleblowers cannot report wrongdoing during the shutdown. The agency furloughed 107 of its 110 staff.
Small Business Administration:
The Small Business Administration will stop processing new loans to small businesses with the exception of loans to businesses affected by natural disasters. Existing loans will be unaffected. Programs that help mentor business owners, including businesses owned by veterans, will be shut down. About 62% of SBA employees will be furloughed.
Smithsonian Institution:
The Smithsonian Institution will shut down. Among the attractions that will be closed are the National Museum of Natural History, the National Air and Space Museum, and the National Zoological Park. Skeleton crews will be on site to provide security and to feed and care for the animals.
Social Security Administration:
The Social Security field offices would offer limited services, including hearings offices before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), though the card centers were closed. Beneficiaries of payment would continue to receive their dues. Online services would also continue, while the agency had a contingency plan.
The White House:
The Executive Office of the President furloughed 1265 employees out of a total of 1701. Within that total, the White House Office retained 129 staff members as exempt under the Antideficiency Act. (The other 117 are exempt under the Annual and Sick Leave Act.)
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will shut down as well as the United States Institute of Peace, a government think-tank. Another research institute, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, will continue operating with reduced staffing. Some parts of the Broadcasting Board of Governors have had to shut down due to a lapse in appropriations for the U.S. federal government, but BBG-supported media are still bringing news and information programs to audiences around the world. U.S. international media activities under the BBG that are deemed “foreign relations essential to national security,” such as news programming and distribution, are excepted from the shutdown and will continue.
^ I am including this list to show the numerous agencies. parks, monuments, museums, etc that people use everyday and how they are being affected by the Shutdown. ^
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