What’s Open and Closed in Montgomery County During the Government Shutdown

Over 800,000 federal employees are furloughed because of the partial government shutdown. Here’s a breakdown about what’s open, partly opened and closed during the partial government shutdown.

Open or Partly Open

• Montgomery County and Maryland’s local government agencies are unaffected by the shutdown.
• Glen Echo Park (It’s owned by National Park Services, but the county takes care of its daily administration).
• The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Trail. However, visitor services is closed and the C&O Canal’s social media channels will not be monitored or updated with alerts about hazardous conditions.
• The Capitol Visitor Center is open.
• The Metro and bus routes are continuing to run normally.
• The Department of Veterans affairs has secured its funding.
• Post offices remain open

Closed

• The National Zoo and Smithsonian Museums
• National parks are closed, but some are offering limited services (for instance, people may be able to enter the parks, but restroom buildings may be locked).

Services that are unavailable:

• Millions of small businesses won’t have access to federal loans.
• The FDA may have to delay non-essential food inspections.

Services that are unaffected:

• Amtrak and flights are scheduled to operate normally.
• Social Security checks, Medicare, and Medicaid are operating normally.
• For the time being, people can still receive food stamps.
• The military is exempt from being furloughed because of a government shutdown.
• People can continue receive passports.

About Deirdre Byrne

Deirdre Byrne is a social media coordinator for Montgomery Community Media. She can be reached at dbyrne@mymcmedia.org or on twitter at @DeirdreByrneMCM.

View all posts by Deirdre Byrne