<p>Not to get political, but is the shutdown effecting you personally?</p>
<p>My daughter is still waiting for her DEA license so that she can start her first job as a PA. She called the DEA today and was told that her application is still “in process” and that the process is being shut down at midnight.</p>
<p>The hospital that is employing her is not taking this patiently. Hopefully they will let her start working and have the supervising doc sign all prescriptions and test orders; fear is that they will break the contract and reopen the search for someone who is already licensed.</p>
<p>We are heading out on vacation tomorrow and had planned a couple of hikes at National Monuments later this week. They probably will be closed, which means we will have to change our plans. I am pretty disappointed, I really wanted to see these places. It is a part of the country I haven’t been to in almost 40 years, and probably will not get back to soon.</p>
<p>It’s affecting my small business as we are waiting on an NIH document that we need to submit to our primary investigator for a grant proposal. Without this document we’ll lose a significant amount of money from our portion of the grant.</p>
<p>I had a brief moment of panic as we have international travelers going in both directions, but I have heard that flights should not be affected - air traffic controllers, TSA, and customs/immigration workers are all going to keep working.</p>
<p>Federal employees are apparently expected to show up at work tomorrow to complete the shut down process. This entails putting up out of office messages then turning off any computers left on, changing voice mail messages, and other housekeeping items. Then they will be out of their offices by noon, unless they are deemed essential personnel. </p>
<p>I just thought I’d mention this so that no one here gets their hopes up if they see federal workers tomorrow that they are able to do any last minute jobs, because they are forbidden to.</p>
<p>We are waiting to see if we can get aid for for our mentally ill son. Social Security kicked back his application the first time, incorrectly we believe. We have resubmitted information and are waiting for their response. I don’t know what will happen now.</p>
<p>My son just put an offer in to buy his first house. he has been looking for several months and it is the first affordable house he has found in the area he wants to buy in that is in a liveable condition. As a first time buyer, he is getting FHA loan as that reduces the down payment and was getting a renovation loan to do some work on it. If the Govt shuts down, I believe FHA loans will not be processed.</p>
<p>So unless the Congress learns how to place nice in the next 27 minutes, a gov shutdown is quite likely. I wonder if this is going to affect my GI Bill payments, specifically the monthly living stipend I’m suppose to get tomorrow…I better transfer some money from my savings just in case because rent is due tomorrow.</p>
<p>Re: National parks and monuments. If a through road traverses the park, the park is not going to be closed. If I had the time, I’d head up the Tioga Road right now and have Yosemite practically to myself. Sounds really tempting.</p>
<p>One of my best friends and his wife will be affected tomorrow. With kids in college, it is a frightful situation. There is no guarantee that back pay would be restored, so money for college tuition, mortgage, etc is being taken away through no fault of his family.
One of my students who works at the VA was told that they are still going to be working. I don’t know if that is just that day or if they are exempt due to the VA backlog.</p>
<p>Spudcommando, I don’t know what kind of stipend you’re referring to, but apparently at least SOME military payments will be made, shutdown or no shutdown.</p>
<p>Neither of the two we planned to visit fits this description. One has been running a shuttle to a key are of the park because they are still recovering from flooding in the early September storms (usually you can just drive & park). I am sure the shuttle won’t be running… and the other is not on a through road.</p>
<p>True: They will likely shut the entrances to parks that are at the end of the road: like Yosemite Valley. However, the Tioga Road is a major east-west through road when snow doesn’t close it. That will remain open. Just like the roads across Death Valley. I know there are backpackers right now in Yosemite who have no idea about any shutdown, have no cell service and are going to be very surprised when they hike out to find the park closed. One hopes that if they had planned on having someone come into the park to pick them up, that those people could get through.</p>
<p>As I understand it, they are all being forced to work, but won’t get paid. According to the Washington Post:</p>
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<p>I suspect that some will have the equivalent of “blue flue” and not come into work and others will engage in a slow down. I hope I’m wrong, but if I were you, I’d plan on delays.</p>
It is a part of the country I haven’t been to in almost 40 years, and probably will not get back to soon.</p>