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The possibility of a federal government shutdown taking place at midnight tonight is looming heavily on the minds of many Americans. Let’s take a quick look at what a government shutdown might mean to we, the people.

In the event of a government shutdown, the federal government does NOT stop functioning completely. There are agencies and employees that are deemed ‘excepted’ and ‘essential’ to keeping the country safe. Congress, the President, presidential appointees and some judicial employees are included amongst this group and will not be paid until the government resumes operations.

As many as 800,000 people employed by the federal government are expected to be affected by the shutdown that may be taking place.

CBS News has published a list of government services and agencies, along with how the shutdown would affect each respectively. We’ve posted some of the list below for your information. Hit this link to see the full list of agencies and services.

Social Security: Social Security recipients would be largely unaffected by a shutdown, according to the administration official. Checks for seniors, those with disabilities, and survivors would go out as usual. But Social Security Administration employees could face furloughs, but the agency is still finalizing its plan.

Mail delivery: The U.S. Postal Service is owned by the government but self-funded – so operations would continue uninterrupted.

Medicare: According to the administration official, Medicare is funded for the short-term – and would likely remain unaffected unless the government were to remain closed for a period of months or more. NIH, however, will not be able to accept new patients or begin new clinical trials.

International Revenue Services (IRS): The IRS would close, but the April tax deadline would stay in place – so Americans would still have to pay their taxes on time. But according to the senior administration official, the processing of paper tax returns (which accounts for about 30 percent of all returns) would be suspended – as would refunds associated with those returns.

Uniformed military personnel would continue to serve, but they would not get paid for their work until the government reopened. (Troops would get one week, not two weeks, pay in their next check, as the shutdown would go into effect in the middle of a pay cycle.) And a number of Pentagon civilians, State Department officials and USAID staff would likely be furloughed.

Veterans services will largely go uninterrupted, as the Veterans Administration receives its yearly appropriation in advance and thus has the money to fund services for the rest of the year.

Read more here

Source: CBS News