US govt shutdown in 2nd week; furloughs, closings to expand

WASHINGTON — The partial US government shutdown entered its second week on Saturday, with nearly 14,000 workers at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) going on furlough and the Smithsonian announcing its museums will close on January 2 unless the shutdown ends.

There’s been no sign of progress toward ending President Donald Trump’s standoff with Democrats over funding for a wall at the US-Mexico border.

The EPA used funds already on hand to continue operation for a week, but was set to exhaust those. Acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler said that without new funds by midnight on Friday, employees would be put on furlough and travel would be cancelled.

Coast Guard service members almost had to miss their final paychecks of 2018. Chief warrant officer Chad Saylor, a spokesman, had said in an interview on Friday that the service’s December 31 paychecks wouldn’t be delivered because unlike other US military branches, it’s under the Department of Homeland Security.

The Defence Department isn’t affected by the shutdown. A Coast Guard workforce blog said the service had found a way to pay its military workforce in a “one-time action”. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine called the move ‘good news’ on Twitter, where she had earlier posted that it was ‘not fair’ that the Coast Guard members wouldn’t be paid.