Government Shut-down

The U.S. federal government “shut-down” due to a disagreement over the budget and funding of the new federal health care plan on October 1st. Approximately 800,000 federal employees were furloughed and most of our national monuments are still closed.  Be sure to check the websites of anywhere you were planning to visit that receives funding from the federal government.  There is a good overview of what’s open here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/whats-open-whats-closed/

UPDATES:

– 10/2 – Congress passed the ‘Pay our Military Act’ to ensure the Armed Forces continue to receive paychecks

– 10/5 – House passed bill to provide for the compensation of furloughed Federal employees (Senate next)

– 10/5 – DoD Civilians were recalled back to work once Pentagon attorneys provided clarification in the ‘Pay our Military Act’…see http://www.defense.gov/pubs/POMA-implementation-guidance.pdf

… Lots of discussions and meetings and speeches with no progress…

– 10/9 – House passed bill to provide death benefit for families of active duty service members (Senate next)