The shutdown: How it affects Minnesotans

(KMSP) - On the first day into a federal government shutdown, lawmakers on Capitol Hill scrambled to make a deal. 

“The shutdown effects on the American people will come as no surprise,” Sen. Mitch McConnell said. 

Lawmakers are stalled by negotiations on DACA. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program allows undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children to work legally in the United States. 

Some lawmakers started pointing blame on one another. 

“President Trump earned an F for leadership,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi said. 

In Minnesota some of the most visible signs of a federal government shutdown were at the Mississippi National River Visitors Center and inside the Science Museum. Both are closed. 

“Thank you for calling the Mississippi National River and Recreational area; due to the government shutdown our employees have been furloughed,” a phone recording from the Mississippi National River Visitors Center said. 

“The longer it lasts the more there are going to be issues,” Andrew Aoki, a political science professor at Augsburg University said. 

Aoki also said that the shutdown will have minimal impact in Minnesota. 

“We have fewer things that are funded by the federal government,” Aoki said. “In fact we tend to send in more than we get back from the federal government.”

As of Saturday, thousands of federal workers across the state were furloughed. Essential employees will work without pay. Social security checks will continue to go out. Neither Medicare nor Medicaid are affected by the shutdown. The US Postal Service will continue to deliver mail as it usually does and airports will remain open. 

Passport services, on the other hand, will end. 

Lawmakers continue to work through the weekend. An agreement on a federal spending bill could come in a matter of days, Aoki said. 

“I think the odds are good that they’ll get something worked out soon. They’re actually very close,” Aoki told Fox 9.