Government Shutdown's Impact Immediately Felt by Families Across the US USA Today
go to original October 1, 2013

The U.S. government has begun a partial shutdown for the first time in 17 years after Congress failed to break a partisan deadlock by a midnight deadline. Some 800,000 federal workers are to be furloughed, and more than a million others will be asked to work without pay.  (Democracy Now)

WASHINGTON - Dave Donohue, of San Francisco, is excited about a family trip to Mexico planned for next month. Donohue, 41, his wife Kathleen and their 11-week-old son Milo plan to celebrate Milo's grandmother's 75th birthday.

But due to the federal government's shutdown, there is a hitch.

Milo needs a passport to travel to Mexico. Donohue says he submitted his son's passport application two weeks ago. Now it's a race against time.

"The government cashed our check, but as a result of the shutdown the government has suspended issuing passports," Donohue says. He says that if the shutdown lasts into next week, the delays could cost him up to $6,000 in airfares, his share of his extended family's housing costs and other expenses.

"I can't imagine that Mexican border authorities are going to care that my son doesn't have a passport because the U.S. government stopped working," Donohue says.

Families across the nation are feeling the impact of the shutdown.

Read the rest at KARE11.com

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