What to expect in the second week of the partial government shutdown
The government shutdown has entered its second week, with President Trump and congressional Democrats still at an impasse over funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
The shutdown has been underway for eight days — approaching some of the longest shutdowns in American history, although not nearly as long as one that lasted 21 days from December 1995 to January 1996. Any government shutdown, however, can significantly affect government agencies and federal workers.
Here is what to expect in this shutdown's second week:
Democratic spending bill
Presumed incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that House Democrats will propose a government funding bill as soon as Democrats take the majority on Thursday. However, it's unclear whether a Republican-controlled Senate would pass a funding bill without money for the wall.
Pelosi has not heard from Mr. Trump since Dec. 11, the day of the meeting between the president and Democratic congressional leaders. She also has not spoken with Vice President Mike Pence, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Mr. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner or congressional liaison Shahira Knight.
Pence, Kushner, Mulvaney and Knight last week zigzagged through the Capitol for two days while they negotiated with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, top Republican senators, and House Freedom caucus leaders Rep. Mark Meadows and Rep. Jim Jordan.
A White House official told CBS News that the president had been in contact with Schumer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, current House Speaker Paul Ryan and current House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
"Pelosi isn't speaker yet and still needs to be elected on the House floor," the White House official said.
Meanwhile, Justin Goodman, a spokesperson for Schumer, said Democrats and the White House are still "very far apart" in discussions to broker a deal and reopen the government.
"As our office stated immediately following the Saturday meeting, the two sides were 'still very far apart' — and still are today because of the President's insistence on keeping the government closed over his expensive and impractical wall," Goodman wrote in a statement Thursday afternoon.
EPA shutdown
The effects of the shutdown to the public expanded at midnight when the Environmental Protection Agency implemented its shutdown plan.
Many of the EPA's 14,000 employees were being furloughed, said EPA spokeswoman Molly Block, The Associated Press reported. Disaster-response teams as well as other employees who are considered essential would continue working, she said.
"Due to a lapse in appropriations, EPA websites will not be regularly updated," said a notice Saturday morning on EPA.gov. "In the event of an environmental emergency imminently threatening the safety of human life or where necessary to protect certain property, the EPA website will be updated with appropriate information."
Smithsonian closings
Although the Smithsonian Museums and the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., remained open for the first week of the shutdown, Smithsonian officials announced Thursday that all of its institutions will close on Monday without a funding deal. Linda St. Thomas, chief spokesperson for the Smithsonian, told NPR on Thursday that the museums and zoo remained open during the week between Christmas and New Year's because it is their busiest time of year.
"The most important thing was to be able to get through this week because we didn't want to disappoint people," Thomas said. The Smithsonian was able to remain open using prior-year funds.
Around two-thirds of Smithsonian employees are federal workers and will be affected by the shutdown.
Coast Guard paychecks
Coast Guard members will be paid on December 31, despite the government shutdown affecting several agencies, according to a blog operated by the Coast Guard. The one-time payment applies to active and reserve members, as well as retirees.
"Ultimately, extensive research and legal analysis between the Coast Guard, DHS, and OMB (the Office of Management and Budget) determined the Coast Guard has the authority to execute the remainder of pay and allowances for December," the blog post said.
The Coast Guard is the only branch of the military under the DHS, and not the Department of Defense, that is funded throughout the shutdown.
While members will receive a New Year's Eve paycheck, their January 15 paycheck is not guaranteed. Unless Congress approves a continuing resolution to keep the government open or a new funding bill for DHS, the January paycheck will not be sent.
January 11 paychecks for federal employees
Paychecks are set to be delivered to federal workers on Jan. 11 — the first paychecks that will cover the days affected by the shutdown. However, if no deal is reached by then, the paychecks will not be sent.
According to the OMB, although no federal employee can receive pay during a shutdown under law, some excepted workers will receive pay after the shutdown is over.
Non-excepted employees who aren't furloughed may not receive pay, but they generally have after previous shutdowns. However, Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., and Rob Wittman, R-Va, have introduced a bill to give furloughed workers back pay after the shutdown ends.
Mr. Trump also signed an executive order Friday freezing federal workers' pay in 2019, preventing them from receiving a 2.1 percent across-the-board pay raise that was set to take effect in January. However, the 2.6 percent pay increase for members of the military was unaffected.
Fin Gomez, Bo Erickson, Camilo Montoya-Galvez and Jason Silverstein contributed to this report
