The US Government Is Still Shut Down. Here’s the Latest You Need to Know.

The US government shut down 11 days ago, and there’s little indication that it’s going to reopen anytime soon.
Much of the federal government continues to operate, though some services have been impacted. Hundreds of thousands of employees are working without pay, and on Friday, the Trump administration began laying some of those workers off.
And while a 2019 law guarantees federal workers back pay after the end of a shutdown, the Trump administration has raised the possibility that those who have been furloughed will not receive it, at least without an act of Congress.
Despite all of this, lawmakers have not gotten any closer to an agreement. Democrats continue to insist that Republicans work with them to address a looming healthcare crisis in order to secure their votes to reopen the government.
Here’s what to know about the ongoing shutdown.
The impact of the ongoing shutdown
As of now, the impact of the shutdown on the general public has been relatively light.
Social security checks are still going out, student loan borrowers are still required to make payments, post offices remain operational, and national parks have mostly remained open. However, Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo in Washington, DC, are set to shutter on Sunday for the remainder of the shutdown.
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While hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been sent home, Capitol Hill staffers have largely remained on the job, with each member of Congress having broad discretion to declare their employees