A LIST OF IMPACTS OF GOVERNMENT CLOSURE ON THE U.S.

• List from Campaign For America's Future.

• I was just reading about people who couldn't get IRS refund checks to be used to pay mortgages, etc.   Wall Street isn't greatly affected by items on the list, but it will be by a default.  Look for Wall Street plutocrats to save America from the Tea Party.  Capitalists to the rescue!

• Sick children are being denied care. Every week that the National Institutes of Health is unfunded, 200 patients are denied treatment at the NIH Clinical Center. Of those 200 patients, 30 are children. Of those 30 children, many have cancer. Because the NIH Clinical Center is a research hospital, the treatments available there for diseases like childhood cancer aren’t available anywhere else. As NIH literature states, “These patients have nowhere else to go.” Republicans failed to stop health care reform, but they have stopped sick children from getting potentially life-saving treatment.
• Almost 20,000 children will lose access to Head Start programs. Due to the shutdown, eleven states did not get their federal grants. As a result, 19,000 children will lose access to Head Start. The loss of Head Start is a hardship for low-income families. Parents will have to go without pay to care for their children, or spend their meager wages to pay for childcare so that they can work. In Bridgeport, Conn., 13 Head Start Programs serving 1,000 children have shut down completely. In Talladega, Ala., more than 700 preschoolers couldn’t go to class. The local Head Start office received calls from worried parents who rely on the program for childcare during working hours.
• Scientific research projects have come to a halt. As agencies are forced to close and furlough nonessential personnel, vital scientific research is grinding to a halt. The consequences ripple across scientific communities, and the damage will be hard to repair. Scientific research is often time-dependent, and there may be no opportunity to make up for missed events and opportunities once the shutdown ends. The Centers for Disease Control is unable to support its seasonal influenza program. The agency will be less able to track and respond to flu outbreaks, just as flu seasons begins.
• Food safety inspections are suspended. The Department of Agriculture will continue manning every meat-producing facility with full-time inspectors. But the Food and Drug Administration oversees the safety of most of the food industry, and most of its inspectors have been deemed nonessential. Approximately 80 facilities per day will not be inspected during the shutdown, and as many as 960 will go without inspections if the shutdown lasts until the debt ceiling deadline, on October 17.
• Toxic clean-ups have ceased. The Environmental Protection Agency has furloughed over 90 percent of its staff, including those working on toxic clean-ups at more than 500 Superfund sites in 47 states, where hazardous waste has built up and threatens public health. Such sites are often located in low-income communities or communities of color. EPA chief Gina McCarthy warned last week that her agency “effectively shuts down” if the government closes. Most of the EPA workers responsible for enforcing regulations by taking legal action against polluters have also been furloughed.
• Colorado will have to fund its own flood relief. Some Coloradans have been concerned that the shutdown might slow or halt repairs of the damage cause by last month’s catastrophic flooding. Governor John Hickenlooper (D) has announced that the state will provide funding for the National Guard members who continue to aid in flood relief efforts. The state hopes to recoup most of the costs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with local and state governments paying for the rest.
• The shutdown imperils worker protections. Thanks to the shutdown, just 11 of the National Labor Relations Board’s employees are working, at a time when there’s a backlog of unsettled cases on labor practices. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will cease any inspections that don’t involve immediate dangers or deaths. At the Labor Department, investigations of wage theft allegations will also come to a halt.
• Families will lose food assistance. Across the country, families are at risk of losing nutritional assistance due to the government shutdown. In Arkansas alone, 85,000 people will lose nutritional assistance. Utah has already announced that it will not be taking new applicants. More than 9 million mothers and children receive benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Low income mothers, pregnant women, babies and young children who rely on WIC could see that help cut off.
• Small businesses are losing money due to the shutdown. Small business owners are already losing money due to the shutdown. Federal workers, facing an uncertain period without work and without paychecks, aren’t spending money at small businesses. Businesses that operate on federally managed lands or public parks will close. Businesses in Washington, D.C. are expected to lose $220 million per day during the shutdown.
• Black-owned businesses are feeling the sting of the shutdown. The closure of the Small Business Association has hit black business owners particularly hard. The SBA provides loans and many other services accessed by black-owned businesses. Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.) warned that the shutdown could make it harder for struggling businesses to get off the ground. “Black businesses are impacted at a higher rate than the general population,” Payne warned.
• The closure of national parks costs local communities $76 billion per day. Millions of tourists are finding national parks closed due to the government shutdown. That’s an economic blow to communities that benefit from the 300 million visitors who come to national parks each year. According to the National Park Service, communities will lose $76 billion in business from tourist spending on food, gas, lodging, and entertainment. Washington — home to various monuments, historical sites, and the Smithsonian Museums — stands to lose more than $5 million per day during the shutdown.
• The shutdown costs taxpayers $12 million per hour, and $300 million per day. According to IHS Global insight, an economic consulting firm,  the cost of work and services government is unable to provide comes to more than $1.6 billion per week, $300 million per day, or $12.5 million per hour. That’s how much shutdown is costing the national economy, since no pay for federal workers means no contribution to economic output.