Signs of government shutdown symbolic

Nearly a million federal employees face furlough at midnight.

WASHINGTON » Symbols of American promise became emblems of American dysfunction on Saturday when a dispute in Congress over spending and immigration forced scores of federal government agencies and outposts to close their doors.

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island turned away visitors in New York, due to what the National Park Service described as “a lapse in appropriations,” a bureaucratic term for a lack of money. In Philadelphia, crowds of tourists were told Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed, and the Liberty Bell were closed.

The shutter icons were some of the easiest-to-spot impacts of the partial government closure. Funds ran out at midnight Friday, leaving 48 hours before the most dramatic effect — furloughing nearly a million federal employees — goes into effect.

As in shutdowns past, federal services were carved into two categories — essential and non-essential — with the former set to carry on as normal. In that category, the mail will be delivered and Social Security checks still go out, the air traffic control system stays up and running, as do the FBI, Customs and Border Protection and veterans hospitals.

Still, there were plenty of inconveniences to irk American taxpayers.

While active-duty troops will stay at their posts during a shutdown, personnel stationed overseas were touched by the political fallout almost immediately. The American Forces Network, which broadcasts American radio and television programming in Europe and other locations outside the U.S., put a message on its Facebook page that said its services would not be available “due to the government shutdown.”

The notice sparked a series of angry reactions from viewers, with several noting that the timing couldn’t have been worse: The NFL conference championships will be played Sunday. “During NFL PLAYOFFS?!” one post read. “AFN, start a GoFundMe & broadcast these games! Make it happen!”

Yet congressional Republicans and Democrats appeared no closer Saturday to settling their differences over immigration policy and striking an agreement to fund the government. The longer the shutdown lasts, the worse the affects will be. Almost half the 2 million civilian federal workers will be barred from doing their jobs if the shutdown extends into Monday.

That’ll put on hold a swath of government functions, from the processing of new veterans benefits claims to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s support for the government’s annual seasonal flu program.

Until then, much of the immediate fallout was in Washington, where lawmakers carried out the part of jobs that involve assigning blame.

There were few signs of shutdown at the Capitol, where lawmakers spent most of the day making speeches about the dispute. A women’s march carried on as planned, under the eye of U.S. Park Police protection. Vice President Mike Pence did not reschedule a visit to the Middle East, the administration labeling the trip “integral” to U.S. national security and diplomacy.

Trump’s trip Jan. 24 to a World Economic Forum is tentative.

MARY ALTAFFER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A United States Park Police officer posts a sign informing of closings of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island at an entrance to a ferry Jan. 20 in New York “due to a lack of appropriations.”