Roundup: U.S. states lose public services in face of gov't shutdown

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- As midnight struck, the U.S. government has officially entered a shutdown amid a stalemate between the Republican and Democratic parties.

The shutdown, the first of U.S. President Donald Trump's tenure, came just as Trump is getting ready to celebrate the first anniversary of his inauguration. But instead he was forced to cancel a trip to his winter resort Mar-a-Lago to try, in vain, to strike a last minute deal with the Democrats.

Trump is not the only one with a sour mood over the shutdown. People all over the country are waking up to a Saturday morning with much fewer public services than they are used to, and tens of thousands of government employees will also face furlough, which will add to their financial burdens.

The most crucial public services will remain, at least for now. Self-funded U.S. Postal Services will keep on delivering mail and parcels. Veterans Affairs Hospitals, which runs on two-year budget cycles, will also remain open.

The U.S. Weather Services, traffic control as well as airport security personnel, will also remain on their jobs, as their work is considered crucial to maintaining public safety.

For the military, only active military personnel will stay in their posts, but without pay. Other civilian military employees will mostly be furloughed.

Services such as the State Department's passport services, which partly run on government funding, may remain open for a short while but will likely be suspended if the shutdown is protracted.

But the list of functioning agencies largely stops there. Most government agencies will shut down due to insufficient funding, including the Justice Department, the State Department, the Defense Department, U.S. intelligence agencies, the Department of Homeland Security, the Interior Department, and the Transportation Department, among others.

For ordinary citizens, the biggest impact will be felt by those who are in the process of buying a home, as the Federal Housing Administration will not be available to approve new mortgages and the Internal Revenue Service will not be able to verify a buyer's tax information.

Across the nation, the pain felt by different states varies depending on the number of government jobs or national parks in the area.

In Hampton Roads, Virginia, local shipbuilding industries and Navy docks have hired about 32,000 people, many of whom may be put on leave.

In the state of Georgia, the federal government hired 71,622 employees, many of whom also face the risk of being furloughed. Thousands were reportedly furloughed during the 2013 shutdown.

For Georgia's national parks, closing down may be inevitable, as the National Park Service has only pledged to keep war memorials and open-air parks in the nation's capital open, while all other parks that require staff management will be forced to deny visitors.

The state of Florida is particularly in tatters as the shutdown hit. Having suffered a devastating Hurricane Irma last summer, parts of the state are still recovering with the help of federal emergency relief dollars.

Local authorities are concerned that an understaffed Federal Emergency Management Agency will prolong the process of appropriating recovery funds, hindering the speed of recovery. Enditem