WASHINGTON _ Disputes over funding for a border wall between triggered a partial government shutdown Dec. 22 _ and there's no apparent end to the impasse.
Agencies out of money include the Departments of Treasury, Homeland Security, Interior, State, Agriculture, Justice, Commerce, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. Also affected are several smaller departments.
In addition to more abstract ways the partial government shutdown obviously gets worse as time goes on, such as more work piling up and additional trash and waste in non-staffed national parks, the longer the shutdown goes, the worse the pain. A timeline of what's to come:
JANUARY 11: Friday marked the end of the first pay period that fell entirely within the shutdown, meaning furloughed employees will first miss a paycheck covering that pay period on Jan. 11.
JANUARY 11: Federal court operations will be curtailed. Courts have been operating by using court fees and other revenue, but officials have said they'll have to re-evaluate after Jan. 11.
THIRD WEEK OF JANUARY: The Internal Revenue Service has not yet announced when it would begin accepting 2019 tax returns, but typically it happens in the third week of January.
FIRST WEEK OF FEBRUARY: Billions of dollars are refunded to households by the first week of February every year. But a shuttered IRS won't be able to process tax returns. People will continue paying their taxes, but won't receive refunds as promptly as usual. The average refund in 2017 and 2018 was just more than $2,000.
FEBRUARY 4: The president has to submit his budget proposal to Congress by the first Monday in February. If the shutdown continues, typical agency input on what that proposal should include won't be available and the budget process for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, will be stalled.
FEBRUARY: Low income households can receive food aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. The shutdown puts more than 40 million people at risk of having their benefits dry up. While January benefits are expected to remain intact, it's unclear what could happen next month.
FEBRUARY: States, which rely on federal funding for big chunks of their budgets, will start to feel the sting as money for highways, community programs and other services could be delayed.
