The House and Senate failed to come to agreement on a continuing resolution (CR) to fund federal government operations for the new fiscal year. The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) ordered departments and agencies to begin "orderly shutdown activities" at 12:01 a.m. October 1. About 60-plus percent of the federal government will close, with the exception of military salaries protected by separate legislation signed by the President this week.

Broadly, all federal security, safety and emergency services - "activities related to the safety of human life or the protection of property" - remain in place and operating, albeit some may have reduced manpower.  It all comes down to those services deemed "essential" versus those considered expendable.  

As for Congress, both chambers continue to battle over an acceptable CR).  However, all Capitol Hill meetings with constituents, lobbyists and others cease unless the meetings are directly related to the shutdown.

Agencies with surplus FY2013 budget money have been given permission to continue operations as long as funds are available.  For instance, the State Department notified all employees it will remain operation through at least the next pay period. 

The best guess at this writing is the "shutdown" will last through this week into early in the week of October 7.

A detailed report on what the shutdown means has been done by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34680.pdf.)  Individual department and agency services affected are found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/.

Federal employees deemed "excepted" or "essential" are required to report to work.  Current estimates are that 800,000 of about 2 million federal government employees would be furloughed.   

The hyperlinks below will take the reader directly to the detailed agency memos regarding shut down procedures:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued guidance for each agency, including:

• The Food Safety and Inspection Service would continue all safety-related activities, including inspection of meat, poultry and egg products such as inspecting birds and animals intended for food before and after slaughter.
   
• The Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) will continue to provide all grain and related commodity inspection and weighing program activities supported by user fees. However, all activities supported by appropriated funds will be discontinued. This involves all activities conducted by GIPSA's Packers and Stockyards Program (PSP) and all compliance, standardization, methods development, and international monitoring activities conducted by GIPSA's Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS).
   
• Work on Market Access Program (MAP) FY2014 grants will cease; allocation of Foreign Market Development (FMD) monies will be suspended. 

The Food & Drug Administration would continue limited activities related to its user fee funded programs including the activities in the Center for Tobacco Products. FDA would also continue select vital activities including maintaining critical consumer protection to handle emergencies, high-risk recalls, civil and criminal investigations, import entry review, and other critical public health issues. FDA staff deemed "excepted" include those who inspect regulated products and manufacturers, conduct sample analysis on products and review imports, as well as those conducting and overseeing adverse event reporting and providing support with surveillance, product incidents, compliance, recalls, and emergencies.

• The Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) said it will continue activities related to human safety and property protection (facility inspections; recalls, etc.); criminal law enforcement work, as well as activities funded by user fees paid during FY2013, including the Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA) and the Animal Generic User Fee Act (AGUFA).  

The Environmental Protection Agency will continue its activities pertaining to homeland and national security, activities essential to ensure continued public health and safety (including safe use of food and drugs and safe use of hazardous materials), law enforcement and criminal investigations, and disaster and emergency assistance.