By Erik Wasson
Copyright smh
Like Australia, the US federal government provides a wide range of essential services, including national defence, social security and healthcare, veterans’ affairs, infrastructure development of highways and public buildings, and support for education and research.
It also manages federal lands, maintains national parks, issues patents and copyrights, regulates interstate commerce, and manages currency.
What does a shutdown mean?
It means many, though not all, federal government functions are suspended, and many, though not all, federal employees are furloughed.
During the 35-day partial shutdown in Trump’s first term, roughly 340,000 of the 800,000 federal workers at affected agencies were furloughed. The remainder were “excepted” and required to work.
