Giving Compass' Take:

• Russell Berman discusses the consequences of extended government shutdowns including dire outcomes for the Federal government, our park and museum systems, and public health.

• How can donors help those affected by the government shutdown? What can be done to prevent future shutdowns? 

• Learn how the shutdown is impacting our oceans. 

The partial government shutdown that began during the quiet of the holidays is about to become the longest in the nation’s history. And on Friday, it will start truly hitting home for hundreds of thousands of federal employees: For the first time, their scheduled paychecks will not arrive.

The missed payments will represent a turning point in the three-week standoff, inflicting a damaging financial burden on federal workers and deepening the impact on the broader economy. But it would only get worse from there if the impasse dragged on indefinitely. A shutdown of unprecedented length—one that, in President Donald Trump’s words, could last “months, or even years”—would have unprecedented adverse effects on national life, reaching corners of American society that have previously viewed the constant partisan budget fights in Washington as an abstraction.

Already, the shutdown has shuttered many national parks and museums, cut off key sources of income for government contractors, delayed payments of housing subsidies, and slowed or stopped routine public-health inspections of food and environmental hazards.

Read the full article on the impact of the government shutdown by Russell Berman at The Atlantic.