\u00a0essential<\/strong>: absolutely necessary or extremely important<\/p>\n nonessential<\/strong>: not absolutely necessary, not a priority<\/p>\n appropriations<\/strong>: laws that provide money for federal agencies<\/p>\n furlough<\/strong>: temporary unpaid time off work<\/p>\n stopgap<\/strong>: a temporary deal or way of satisfying a problem<\/p>\n to fund<\/strong>: to provide money<\/p>\n contingency plan<\/strong>: a plan that takes possible future events into consideration<\/p>\n So, what does all of this mean for the people in the United States right now? What parts of the government will be closed (because they are nonessential) and what parts will be running normally (because they are essential)?<\/p>\n \u00a0Essential American government services include:<\/strong><\/p>\n The U.S. military and Homeland Security agency<\/em><\/p>\n Air traffic control<\/em><\/p>\n The federal courts<\/em><\/p>\n The U.S. mail services<\/em><\/p>\n Nonessential government service include:<\/strong><\/p>\n NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)<\/em><\/p>\n America\u2019s National Parks and Smithsonian Museums<\/em><\/p>\n The Environmental Protection Agency<\/em><\/p>\n State Department processing of visas and passport<\/em><\/p>\n Unfortunately for those people who are considered \u201cnonessential\u201d government employees, they can not go to work (their offices are closed and the doors are locked!) and they won\u2019t get paid until the government is \u201copen\u201d again. For some Americans and tourists in America, this government shutdown won\u2019t have any effect on them at all, while for others it will have a big effect, for example for tourists they can no long visit to National Parks or the Smithsonian Museums.<\/p>\n Luckily, a government shutdown is not a common thing in this country; the last time this a government shutdown happened was 17 years ago. Also, we all hope it will be over soon! The only way it will end though, is if the United States Congress passes an appropriations bill to fund government programs and employees again.<\/p>\n If you want to read more about this U.S. government shutdown, here is an article<\/a> you might want to look at.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As of yesterday, the U.S. government was shut down! What does this mean; are the airports closed, are stores closed, do people have to go to work? Well, first of all this is just a temporarily shutdown (or closure), America is not \u201cclosed\u201d forever, at least we hope not! And this shutdown is not…<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2013\/10\/shutdown.jpg\")