As the country braces for the possible shut down of the government as early as Saturday morning, it’s coming to light how far reaching the effects would be.
The impact on travelers would be widespread. The passport office would be closed down, leaving travelers left waiting for an undetermined amount of time. Coincidentally, this weekend on April 9th, was the third annual “passport day” where offices across the country would be open on a Saturday to allow those that work Monday through Friday to show up without an appointment and apply for passport booklets, cards or adding in extra pages to existing passports. Locations and details are at travel.state.gov.
National parks, museums and national monuments would be shut down. During a previous shut down in 1995, the National Parks shut down 368 sites and lost an estimated 7 million visitors.
The Washington Post estimates around 500,000 visitors could be turned away this weekend alone from the National Zoo and the major Smithsonian museums on the Mall.
Of course the shut down will put a strain on the already weakened economy, but there are even more serious issues such as a possible delay in Social Security benefits and even tax refunds that so many people count on this time of year. Let’s hope they can come to a compromise in the next 24 hours.
