America 
 
 The Shutdown's Squeeze On Science And Health 
 
 itoggle caption NASA/Getty Images 
 
 In addition to shutdowns of national parks (including Alcatraz Island and Yosemite) and the supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, the mandatory furloughs are affecting a wide range of government science and health agencies. Here's a snapshot: 
 
 The "most painful consequence [of the shutdown for National Institutes of Health] is for the clinical center, the largest research hospital in the world" says NIH Director Francis Collins. Many of the hospital's patients have cancer, a rare genetic disease or a serious infection that hasn't been relieved elsewhere, Collins says. But Tuesday NIH had to close its doors to new patients. "How would you feel as a parent of a child with cancer," Collins asks, "hoping that somehow NIH and its clinical center might provide some rescue from a very difficult situation, to hear that, frankly, you can't come, because the government won't be able to stay open." 
 
 More specifically at the NIH clinical center: 
 
 No new studies will be started. Four had been slated to begin this week, but won't if the shutdown continues. 
 
 No new patients will be enrolled in any of the 1,437 studies now underway. Roughly 500of those are studying new drugs and devices, and of those 255 are looking at cancer treatments for adults and children. 
 
 The hospital's reduced staff will continue to care for existing patients, but new patients will not be admitted unless the NIH Clinical Center's director deems it medically necessary. 
 
 Meanwhile, workers will show up to feed and care for animals in NIH labs, but basic research conducted by NIH scientists there will stop. 
 
 "The vast majority of CDC's activities will be shut down completely," according to email from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson. "Only about 4,000 of the CDC's 13,000 staff members will continue to work," during the federal shutdown. 
 
 CDC "will not be conducting multi-state outbreak investigations," but will keep the emergency operation center working "at a reduced capacity," that can be geared up quickly if a serious outbreak of illness is discovered. 
 
 PulseNet, the CDC's foodborne disease tracking program is still up and running, NPR's Allison Aubrey reports. 
 
 However, there will be no monitoring of seasonal flu activity across the U.S. 
 
 Ongoing investigations, such as the one looking into several outbreaks of the brain-eating amoeba Naelgeria will continue, but surveillance of H7N9 (bird flu) and the coronavirus that causes MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) will be "much less robust," according to the CDC. 
 
 Roughly 45 percent of the workers at the Food and Drug Administration have been furloughed, leaving the agency "unable to support the majority of its food safety, nutrition and cosmetics activities," according to Steven Immergut, an agency spokesperson. Some work, such as that related to some activities funded by user-fees in the Center for Tobacco Products, and "high-risk recalls, civil and criminal investigations, import entry reviews, and other critical public health issues," will continue, Immergut says. 
 
 Mission Control at NASA's Johnson's Space Center in Houston remains open for business, providing its usual support for the International Space Station, NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports, though the rest of the center in Houston is closed. Also, NASA's Web site is down, and most employees have been put on furlough. A NASA memo obtained by SpaceRef, an online publication for the space industry, suggests most NASA employees weren't even allowed to turn on their computers. The Mars rover Curiosity is still making its rounds on the red planet (staffed by non-civil servants), according to John Grotzinger, project scientist on the Curiosity team, but managers in charge of MAVEN, NASA's next mission to Mars, worry that even a brief shutdown could delay their project's Nov. 18 launch. If the orbiter misses its launch period, another window won't open again for 26 months, the mission managers say. 
 
 At the U.S. Geological Survey, only 43 of its 8,600 employees are deemed essential and working during the shutdown. Just before she was furloughed Tuesday, a USGS spokesperson NPR's Richard Harris that there will be skeleton crews working at headquarters, at the earthquake center in Boulder, Colo., and at the volcano observatories, plus a couple of people are continuing to keep an eye on the data coming in from the two Landsat satellites. These spacecraft collect critical information about the earth's surface that's used by scientists and businesses. For now, the satellite data will only be archived, and analyzed and distributed as images later. 
 
 Although the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is affected by the shutdown, officials there told NPR's Jon Hamilton, the weather forecasting portions of the agency are deemed "necessary to protect lives and property," and will continue their work unabated. The National Weather Service also stayed open during the federal shutdown in the winter of 1996 — and successfully forecast a blizzard. 
 
 Nearly 95 percent of the Environmental Protection Agency's 16,000-member staff has been furloughed. NPR's Elizabeth Shogren says that means there will be lots of delays in the programs that safeguard the nation's air water land and food. 
 
 Some cleanup activities are being postponed at more than 500 hazardous waste sites in nearly every state of the country. Some reviews of chemicals and pesticides are being stalled. But efforts to clean up leaking underground storage tanks will continue. EPA officials would also still respond to any environmental emergencies that arise, such as big chemical spills. 
 
 In a contingency plan released late last week, the U.S. Forest Service called for keeping 41 percent of its workforce on hand in case of a government shutdown. The agency said it needed about 13,000 workers to carry out essential activities such as fire suppression, law enforcement, protection of federal lands, and protection of research studies where a halt in activity could destroy or endanger study findings. 
 
 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is responsible for overseeing the nation's nuclear reactors, has saved up enough money to continue full operations for another week. After that, it will focus on its core role policing safety at the nation's nuclear plants. NRC spokesman Eliot Brenner says "the NRC will continue to have on site, at all 100 nuclear reactors in this country, its resident inspectors." But most of the agency's nearly 4,000 employees will be sent home. In the unlikely event an accident occurs, Brenner says they could be recalled quickly. 
 
 You'll have to get your fuzzy animal fix elsewhere during the shutdown; the panda cam at The Smithsonian's National Zoo has been turned off. ||||| Looking for news you can trust? 
 
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 Update: The midnight deadline came and went without a deal from House Republicans and Senate Democrats (except for one small bill, on military pay). Welcome to the Shutdown. 
 
 The government will shut down at midnight unless President Obama and Congress can agree on a temporary resolution to continue funding federal agencies. (Spoiler: They probably won’t.) 
 
 Here’s a quick guide to who and what will be most affected: 
 
 Anyone who might get sick: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would lack funding to support its annual flu vaccination program. 
 
 Military personnel: Barring last-minute congressional action, members of the armed forces would have their paychecks put on hold while they continue to work. 
 
 People who use boats: The Coast Guard will cut back on routine patrols and navigation assistance. 
 
 Civilian defense employees: 400,000 Department of Defense employees will be given unpaid vacations. 
 
 Family members of fallen soldiers: Death benefits for military families will be delayed. 
 
 Gun owners: During the 1990s shutdown, applications for gun permits were delayed due to furloughs at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 
 
 Trees: Hundreds of US Forest Service workers face furloughs in California during peak forest fire season. 
 
 Visa applicants: Furloughs at the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs mean tens of thousands of visa applications are put on hold. 
 
 People traveling abroad: A shutdown would cause delays in the processing of passport applications. 
 
 Sick people: The National Institutes of Health will not admit new patients unless ordered by the director. 
 
 Factory workers: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will halt regular inspections. 
 
 Hikers: All 401 National Park Service sites will be closed. 
 
 People who make money off tourists: Shuttered national parks are bad news for the hotels, restaurants, and other attractions that feed off them. 
 
 Small business loan applicants: The Small Business Administration will furlough 62 percent of its workforce. 
 
 Employers: The Department of Homeland Security’s e-Verify program will be offline for the duration of the shutdown. 
 
 Fountains: 45 of them will lose water. 
 
 People applying for mortgages: The Federal Housing Administration and the USDA won’t guarantee new loans. 
 
 Oil and gas exploration: The Bureau of Land Management will stop processing permits for oil and gas drilling on federal lands. 
 
 Chemical site facility security: Funding for Department of Homeland Security regulatory program ends October 4. 
 
 FOIA requests: The Social Security Administration says it won’t respond to Freedom of Information Act Requests during the shutdown. 
 
 Docents: All Smithsonian Institution museums in Washington, DC, will be closed. 
 
 @CuriosityRover: 98 percent of NASA’s staff will be furloughed, and the agency’s website and live-streams will go dark. 
 
 Renewable energy permits: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will stop all new offshore renewable-energy projects. 
 
 Campers: People living (or vacationing) in national parks and forests will have 48 hours to relocate. 
 
 Animal voyeurs: Watch the National Zoo’s Panda-cam while you still can. 
 
 Native Americans: The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement will suspend oversight of active and abandoned coal mines “primarily in Tennessee and on Indian lands.” 
 
 Pesticide regulators: The Environmental Protection Agency will all but shut down at midnight. 
 
 Veterans pensions: The Department of Veterans Affairs says it will run out of funding for regular payment checks after a few weeks. 
 
 US Geological Survey researchers: The agency would stop most new scientific research and water analysis. 
 
 Disability payments: Although the VA will continue to provide medical care, disability payments may also be disrupted after a few weeks. 
 
 Winery permits: Couldn’t they take the wine coolers instead? 
 
 Ponies: The Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse and burro adoption programs would cease. 
 
 Infectious disease surveillance: The CDC will be unable to track outbreaks and monitor infectious diseases at a local level. 
 
 People on food assistance: The USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) will stop making payments on October 1. 
 
 Food inspections: The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration warned of “inability to investigate alleged violations” due to a lack of funding; food imports will also go uninspected. 
 
 Automobile recall inspectors: “Routine defects and recall information from manufacturers and consumers would not be reviewed,” according to the Department of Transportation. 
 
 Food and drug safety research: The Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA, will furlough 52 percent of its staff. 
 
 ARPA-E: The Department of Energy’s cutting-edge research arm—and one of the crowning legacies of the stimulus—will shut down, putting projects such as “squirtable batteries” on hold. 
 
 Nuclear Regulatory Commission: The agency could furlough more than 92 percent of its employees next week, with much of the remaining staff handling inspections. 
 
 People without heat: If the shutdown persists, it could affect the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which funds heating assistance programs. 
 
 Consumers: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will furlough 652 of its 680 employees and maintain only a “bare minimum level of oversight and surveillance” to stop fraudulent practices. 
 
 People trying to pay taxes: The Internal Revenue Service will shutter its tax hotline, and stop processing tax payments. 
 
 College students: Cutbacks at the Department of Education could slow Pell grant and student-loan payments. 
 
 Economists: The Bureau of Economic Analysis will cut back on its data collection. 
 
 Welfare recipients: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families—welfare—runs out of funding on October 1, although individual states may pick up the tab. 
 
 Head Start: The child development program, already hammered by the effects of sequestration, will stop doling out new grants on October 1. 
 
 Air monitoring: A 94 percent reduction in staff won’t leave the EPA much room to enforce its new carbon regulations. 
 
 Golf: Courses at National Park Service sites will close for the shutdown. So at least we have that going for us. ||||| For every week that the government shutdown continues, 10 children with cancer will not be able to begin their clinical trials, officials told ABCNews.com. 
 
 John Burklow, a spokesman for the National Institutes of Health, estimated that 200 patients would experience these delays each week of the shutdown. Since 15 percent of these patients are typically children, and 33 percent of these children have cancer, that means the patients facing delays would include about 30 children per week, 10 of whom have cancer, he said. 
 
 Federal health programs are down thousands of employees, which hampers clinical trials and disease outbreak surveillance. 
 
 The NIH, for example, has had to furlough 14,700 employees - or 75 percent of its staff - as a result of the shutdown, Burklow told ABCNews.com. He expressed surprise that calls were even getting through, because he said his phone system had gone down this morning. 
 
 "Unfortunately, almost everybody is gone," he said of his office. His staff in the media office has shrunk from 38 to one. 
 
 More than 1,400 ongoing clinical trials will continue at the NIH Clinical Center, which is the largest research hospital in the world, but it won't be able to enroll any new patients in these trials or start any new trials during the shutdown, Burklow said. 
 
 "There are four new protocols [clinical trials] ready to start next week, and they won't be starting during the shutdown if we're still shut down," he said. 
 
 As a result of the shutdown, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has furloughed 9,000 employees, rendering it unable to track multi-state disease outbreaks, said CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds. These currently include the disease stemming from the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri, which killed a 4-year-old in Louisiana a few weeks ago, and the stomach bug cyclospora, which has sickened 643 people in 25 states since June. 
 
 "The vast majority of the CDC is actively in the process of shutting down," she said. "We've gotten really good at trying to find outbreaks, but our strong network is getting weaker. … This is spotty." 
 
 The seasonal flu program will also be shut down, which could affect the CDC's ability to warn populations most at risk for becoming sick and its ability to create next year's flu shot, Reynolds said. 
 
 PHOTOS on Government Shutdown: U.S. Parks, Memorials Closed 
 
 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's media line rang until a garbled voice message system kicked in and picked up. The FDA tweeted that it would not be able to respond to @ replies during the shutdown but would be back soon. ||||| From New York's Liberty Island to Alaska's Denali National Park, the U.S. government closed its doors as a bitter budget fight idled hundreds of thousands of federal workers and halted all but the most critical government services for the first time in nearly two decades. 
 
 National Park Service guide Terry Papavasilis talks with visitors about the Liberty Bell at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Monday, Sept. 30, 2013 as the government teeters on the... (Associated Press) 
 
 With hours to go until a possible government shutdown, visitors tour the Rotunda of the. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 30, 2013. Capitol officials said today that if a shutdown goes into effect,... (Associated Press) 
 
 A midnight deadline to avert a shutdown passed amid Congressional bickering over whether to scale back President Barack Obama's health care reform law, casting in doubt Americans' ability to get government services ranging from federally-backed home loans to supplemental food assistance for children and pregnant women. 
 
 For many employees of the federal government, the shutdown that began Tuesday meant no more paychecks as they were forced onto unpaid furloughs. For those still working, it meant delays in getting paid. 
 
 Park Ranger and father-to-be Darquez Smith said he already lives paycheck-to-paycheck while putting himself through college. 
 
 "I've got a lot on my plate right now _ tuition, my daughter, bills," said Smith, 23, a ranger at Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park in Ohio. "I'm just confused and waiting just like everyone else." 
 
 The impact of the shutdown was mixed _ immediate and far-reaching for some, annoying but minimal for others. 
 
 In Colorado, where flooding killed eight people earlier this month, emergency funds to help rebuild homes and businesses continued to flow _ but federal worker furloughs were expected to slow it down. 
 
 National Guard soldiers rebuilding washed-out roads would apparently be paid on time _ along with the rest of the country's active-duty military personnel _ under a bill passed hours before the shutdown. Existing Social Security and Medicare benefits, veterans' services and mail delivery were also unaffected. 
 
 Other agencies were harder hit _ nearly 3,000 Federal Aviation Administration safety inspectors were furloughed along with most of the National Transportation Safety Board's employees, including accident investigators who respond to air crashes, train collisions, pipeline explosions and other accidents. 
 
 Almost all of NASA shut down, except for Mission Control in Houston, and national parks closed along with the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo in Washington. Even the zoo's popular panda cam went dark, shut off for the first time since a cub was born there Aug. 23. 
 
 As the shutdown loomed Monday, visitors to popular parks made their frustration with elected officials clear. 
 
 "There is no good thing going to come out of it," said Chris Fahl, a tourist from Roanoke, Indiana, visiting the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park in Hodgenville, Kentucky. "Taxpayers are just going to be more overburdened." 
 
 Emily Enfinger, visiting the Statue of Liberty, said politicians need to find a way to work together. 
 
 "They should be willing to compromise, both sides, and it discourages me that they don't seem to be able to do that," she said. "They're not doing their job as far as I'm concerned." 
 
 The shutdown was strangely captivating to Marlena Knight, an Australian visiting Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. She was confounded that the impasse focused on the nation's health care system _ an indispensable service in her home country. 
 
 "We can't imagine not having a national health system," she said. "I just can't believe that this country can shut down over something like a national health system. Totally bizarre, as an Australian, but fascinating." 
 
 It turns out an institution as massive as the federal government takes some time to grind to a total halt: Many federal workers were being permitted to come in Tuesday to change voicemail messages or fill out time cards. But after that, they were under strict orders to do no work, even check their emails. 
 
 With no telling how long the budget standoff will last, even programs not immediately affected could run out of cash. 
 
 Barbara Haxton, executive director of the Ohio Head Start Association, said its preschool learning programs would be in jeopardy if a shutdown lasted more than two weeks. March's automatic budget cuts meant nearly 3,000 children lost access to services and there could be dire consequences if the budget standoff drags on. 
 
 "It's not as though this is a throwaway service. These are the poorest of the poor children," Haxton said. "And our Congressman still gets his paycheck. His pay doesn't stop and his health insurance doesn't stop." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press reporters Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia, Joan Lowy in Washington, D.C., Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky., Terence Chea in San Francisco and Amanda Lee Myers in Cincinnati contributed to this report. ||||| ARCO, Idaho (KBOI) -- Officials at Craters of the Moon National Monument are about to get more boots on the ground to search for a missing Boise woman. 
 
 The monument has 19 employees and all but three were about to be placed on furlough due to the government shutdown. On Wednesday, however, officials there say the park has received permission to keep 10 workers under the "excepted" status during the search. 
 
 Officials have been looking for 63-year-old Jo Elliott-Blakeslee for about a week. Her hiking partner, 69-year-old Amy Linkert, was found dead last Wednesday. 
 
 "The probability of finding her (Elliott-Blakeslee) alive has diminished, but we are committed to continuing the search until we find Dr. Jo and bring closure to her family, friends and all those who have been involved in this search," said Dan Buckley, park superintendent. 
 
 With 16 staff employees being placed on furlough, Ted Stout, chief of interpretation and education at Craters, told KBOI 2News that no one was looking for 63-year-old Jo Elliott-Blakeslee Tuesday morning. 
 
 
 
 "It's pretty much just park staff that are continuing the search," Stout said. "But we're also faced with the government shutdown -- we've been busy with that." 
 
 Federal workers are not allowed to volunteer to do their jobs during a shutdown because U.S. law says they can't do any work that has not been allocated funding. 
 
 
 
 The search effort had already begun being scaled back due to rescue agencies being called back to their respective headquarters and poor weather earlier in the week. Only three staff members are at the park monitoring infrastructure resources. 
 
 
 
 Meanwhile, family members have called for experienced hikers to help join the search. 
 
 
 
 On Monday, Elliott-Blakeslee's family released a statement thanking all those who have helped in the search, and saying that while they realize the chances of finding Elliott-Blakeslee alive are growing slim, they remain hopeful. They also noted that the search area is in rugged and often dangerous territory and prone to unpredictable weather. 
 
 
 
 "Either way, we are committed to bringing her home and are actively recruiting volunteers with backcountry experience to keep the search going. But we will not chance injury or loss of searchers," the family's prepared statement said. "In that vein, at a minimum, those interested in participating should be able to hike 10 to 12 miles and climb 1,000 feet at a time in treacherous terrain."
– One potentially tragic consequence of the government shutdown: With 16 employees of Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho now on furlough, the search for a missing woman last seen there has slowed dramatically. Jo Elliott-Blakeslee, 63, went hiking with Amy Linkert, 69, on Sept. 19; they were reported missing last Monday when Elliott-Blakeslee didn't arrive at work. The body of Linkert, who is believed to have died from exposure, was found last week, CBS News reports. Now Elliott-Blakeslee's family is asking experienced hikers to help search for her, KBOI reports—the station notes that federal workers can't even volunteer to do their jobs during a shutdown. More unfortunate consequences: Children with cancer are being blocked from starting clinical trials, officials say, since federal health employees are also on furlough. Each week of the shutdown, 200 patients won't be able to start their clinical trials; 15% of these patients are expected to be children, and 33% of those children (or 10 per week for as long as the shutdown lasts) have cancer. Ongoing clinical trials will continue, however, ABC News reports. The CDC has also furloughed employees, so it can't track multi-state disease outbreaks. And its seasonal flu program will be halted, which might hinder its ability to create next year's flu shot, a spokesperson says. The Washington Post has a list of the nine most painful consequences. Among them: Of the more than 2 million federal workers whose paychecks might be delayed, 800,000 might never actually get paid. If the shutdown lasts more than a couple of weeks, veterans may not receive pension payments or see their disability claims paid. Disability benefits for non-veterans could also be interrupted. The Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutritional program could keep running through October in many states, but could shut down after just one week in some. And Head Start programs, which provide health, nutrition, and other services to low-income kids, will gradually start closing. NPR runs down the shutdown's many impacts on science and health. Workers are furloughed and programs are being shut down at the National Institutes of Health, the CDC, the FDA, NASA, the US Geological Survey, NOAA, the EPA, the Forest Service, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (And as you probably have heard, the National Zoo turned off its "panda cam.") One other impact? A planned Ku Klux Klan rally at Gettysburg won't be happening.