Federal government shutdown: What’s closed + open in Birmingham

The United States federal government was shut down Wednesday morning due to disagreements between Republicans and Democrats on what the Congress budget should look like. 

This is the first shutdown since December 2018, which was the longest in U.S. history at 34 days.

Most of what Birmingham residents interact with on a daily basis will remain in operation as per usual, but here is the breakdown of what services will and won’t be available.

• Basic city services — like police, fire department, emergency medical services, water and sewer, sanitation, libraries and courts — are not funded by Congress. These will all remain open and operating like normal.
  
• The Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are operational for now, but if the shutdown drags on, they could start running low on funds.
  
• The United States Postal Service (USPS) is not funded by annual appropriations passed by Congress for the most part — it’s mostly funded by postage sales — so mail will be delivered and sent as usual. 
  NOTE: If you are planning on traveling abroad and need to renew or get a passport, you may want to allow for additional time for processing.
  
• Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees are considered essential workers and will continue working without pay, so flights in and out of BHM should be unaffected. If the shutdown lasts too long, employees may call out sick en masse — this happened during the 2018-2019 shutdown, NPR reported. 
  
• Social Security checks will still be sent out. Around 88% of Social Security Administration employees will continue working through the shutdown without pay, the Washington Post reported. 
  
• Medicare and Medicaid will not be interrupted for now, but that could change if the shutdown lasts too long. 
  
• The same goes for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Of that workforce, 96% will continue working without pay.
  
• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has an alternate source of funding under the Inflation Reduction Act, so it will largely be unaffected. It may, however, be difficult to get taxpayer assistance from the agency during the shutdown.
  
• Federal courts remain open but may face some staffing shortages or delays.
  
• National monuments and preserves — such as the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument — will remain open to the public if there are publicly accessible trails or land, but there will be fewer employees working at these locations. Locations that can be made physically inaccessible to the public will likely be closed. 
  
• Alabama’s more than 45,000 federal workers — the highest amount per-capita in the Southeast — will largely be furloughed or continue working without pay. Those who continue working will receive a paycheck after the shutdown is complete. 

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