How the government shutdown could disrupt Virginia daily life

🚫 Many of Virginia's 350,000 federal workers, including thousands in metro Richmond, likely won't get paid.

• This includes "essential" workers and "excepted" employees, per the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
• It also includes the state's 122,000 active-duty military service members.
• All will be eligible for backpay once the shutdown ends.

✈️ Flights could be delayed or canceled if air traffic controllers and TSA staff working without pay start calling in sick.

• Passport renewals processing could be delayed.

🌳 Most National Parks will remain open, but operate with limited or no staff.

• That includes Shenandoah National Park, which is operating with a skeleton crew during peak leaf peeping season, per Cville Right Now.
• And Maggie L. Walker's Jackson Ward home, which had already dropped its tour schedule down to two days a week due to the Trump administration's federal layoffs.

What won't be affected:

📬 Mail: USPS doesn't receive taxpayer funding for operating expenses, so it will continue as normal.

💰 Generally, payments for Social Security, Medicare, SNAP benefits and Veterans Affairs compensation continue during a shutdown.

• But verification and new card issuance could be delayed, as well as some Veterans services.

Keep reading for more on the government shutdown and how it could affect you.