There will be plenty of confusion in the coming days about what the Republican shutdown means to the daily lives of Americans. GOP ‘splainers and spin-meisters will surely try to shift the blame from themselves, even though they control all branches of the federal government. The Politico staff helps to set things straight with their article, “Government shutdown 2025: A guide to what’s still open, what’s closed and what’s fuzzy.” An excerpt: “The government shutdown that began Wednesday is set to furlough food inspectors, park rangers and millions of other federal workers in Washington and across the nation. Some are only heading to their offices for a few hours to “undertake orderly shutdown activities.” The federal courts and some government agencies like the IRS have enough money to run with for a short time, burning through their reserves of taxpayer funds until the hourglass drains their cash completely. But others have already shuttered for everyone not deemed “essential” by their agencies….The Commerce Department, an agency key to promoting U.S. exports and enforcing trade policy, is retaining about 20 percent of its staff, with furloughs affecting a range of sectors including weather, climate, and law enforcement programs…The shutdown also pauses most enforcement inspections and regulatory work conducted by EPA, slowing the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal a suite of climate rules. New air and water permitting gets waylaid as well, which, if the shutdown continues for a significant period, could hit companies looking to expand their facilities.”

“While Social Security checks, mail, student loan bills and funds for Ukraine will still be delivered,” The Politico staff notes, “millions of workers are set to suffer financial hardship — at least among those who still have jobs after months of deep staffing cuts and a deferred resignation program…Last week, the Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to develop plansfor firing employees if a shutdown happened…Federal workers traditionally get back pay when shutdowns end, but contractors and others whose businesses depend on the federal government won’t. Overall, the economic consequences of a shutdown will rest on how long the standoff lasts…The Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, is keeping park roads, lookouts, trails and open-air memorials open during the shutdown, according to the agency’s latest contingency plan. But it’s also furloughing 64 percent of NPS staff while the funding impasse persists…The FAA is by far the Transportation Department’s largest division and on a normal day houses more than 80 percent of the agency’s employees. A quarter of them are expected to be furloughed…More than a million people serving in the U.S. military are now working without pay.” (Wondering how the military brass that flew across 10 time zones for yesterday’s scolding feel about this)…Elective surgeries and procedures in military medical and dental facilities get postponed…A shutdown plan released Monday said the IRS would be able to use special funding that Democrats enacted in 2022 to avoid furloughing any of its almost 75,000 employees for the first five business days after a funding lapse. What happens if a shutdown stretches beyond that isn’t clear yet…

The Politico staff writers note further, that “the Department of Health and Human Services is furloughing some 40 percent of its employees just a few months after weathering particularly deep staffing cuts under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr…The National Institutes of Health — the planet’s biggest public funder of biomedical research — is furloughing three-quarters of its staff…Roughly two-thirds of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s staff are being furloughed. Coordination with state and local health departments on opioid overdose prevention, HIV prevention, and diabetes prevention has ceased, according to the agency’s plans. And while staff can continue to gather data about rates of infectious diseases, analysis of that information is on hold…Kennedy, who has said he wants to shrink the CDC, may also use the standoff in Congress to permanently boot employees that don’t go along with the Trump administration’s directives…The Department of Veteran Affairs is not being hit like many other agencies due to appropriations already awarded by Congress. Benefits checks will continue to be processed, and medical appointments at VA health centers won’t be interrupted…But officials are shuttering several support phone services, including the GI Bill Hotline, until the funding impasse is resolved. Regional VA benefits offices will be closed, and public affairs outreach efforts will end. Career counseling and transition assistance programs are also halted…Burials will continue at veterans cemeteries, but department workers will not permanently place headstones or maintain the grounds at those sites…….Agriculture Department food safety inspectors, stationed at the nation’s meat and poultry slaughterhouses, will remain on the job — without a paycheck. The FDA, which oversees approximately 80 percent of the U.S. food supply, will have to triage its preventative food safety work…Corporate America has been eagerly waiting for work to gear up at both the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission under Trump — the agencies in charge of overseeing stock, futures and some cryptocurrency trading. Now, the agencies are operating with skeleton crews…According to a contingency plan compiled in mid-September by the Department of Homeland Security, less than 900 of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s around 2,500 personnel are exempt from furloughs.” Read more here.

As regards the other big Tuesday story, The Administration’s Quantico meeting hectoring military brass, photographs of the audience’s steely silence explains the reception. If you want a short synopsis, however, check out “Trump and Hegseth spark alarm about domestic use of military: At an unprecedented gathering of the nation’s top military brass, Trump and Hegseth spoke of using force in America” by Blaise Malley at Salon. An excerpt: “President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered remarks that have stirred intense reactions from political commentators, military experts and activists…Speaking to an audience of hundreds of senior military leaders at Quantico, Virginia, both men outlined their vision for a radically redefined U.S. military, emphasizing “lethality” and “warrior ethos” while promoting controversial shifts in military culture…Historian Timothy Snyder, an expert on authoritarianism at the University of Toronto, interpreted the event as an ominous signal that Trump and Hegseth are more focused on domestic enemies and ideological battles than real-world military strategy…“The ‘war fighting’ and ‘lethality’ they plan is inside their own country and comes from conflicts inside their own minds,” Snyder wrote on social media…Marquette University political scientist Risa Brooks, who specializes in civilian-military relations, echoed that concern, warning that the speeches reflected an effort to realign the military with a partisan political agenda. “This is not about enforcing standards,” she said, “it’s about inculcating a particular value system within the officer corps.”…Brooks described the speech as more than simply “performative,” arguing that its intent was serious: to reshape military leadership in line with the administration’s values…“The ultimate aim,” she noted on BluSky, “is that people will no longer expect the military to serve the public at large, but that its goal and purpose is to advance the interest of one faction or party.” More here.