(PHOTO CAPTIONS)Transportation Security Administration officers checking passengers at Pittsburgh International Airport last week. The agency’s employees have called out sick in increased numbers across the country since the shutdown began.
8The partial shutdown of the federal government is nearing the end of its third full week. If it continues through Saturday, it will become the longest such shutdown on record.
While some essential work, such as mail delivery and law enforcement, is still being performed, the shutdown has affected operations at nine departments, including Homeland Security, Justice, State and Treasury, and several agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA.
Much work has ground to a halt. About 800,000 government workers are living without pay, with more than half working and most likely being repaid once the government reopens and the rest sent home with no such expectation. And, if history is any guide, it may ultimately cost more to have shut down the government than to have left it open.
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Here’s a brief look at some of the government functions that have and have not been affected by the shutdown.
Airport security
Since the shutdown began, Transportation Security Administration workers, many of them responsible for screening passengers and baggage, have been calling out sick in increased numbers at airports across the country.
Last week, a federal official who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity said that the call-outs seemed to be a coordinated protest, but union officials said that many workers were most likely just looking for work elsewhere to cover for missed wages. A T.S.A. spokesman played down the disruption. (cont. pg.8)