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WASHINGTON (AP) – The lights did not twinkle. Toy trains were not humming.
The national Christmas tree, symbol of the seasonal joy of a country, was rather the emblem of a paralyzed government, while the partial closure stretched into the holidays with a panoply Frozen federal services, some 800,000 public servants either at rest or about to be, and the upheaval of the general public will only worsen when the silence wraps up later this week .
Already, in many national parks, the facilities were already closed, if parks were accessible to all and thousands of others. federal buildings were to remain closed when the work week resumed, unless President Donald Trump and members of Congress quickly get out of a budget stalemate that, according to the White House, could go on forever until 2019.
Under the cloudy skies in the dry wind of the third day of the stop, the capital has set up a little holiday marvel for visitors such as Greg Forcherio of Columbia, Maryland , public subcontractor without office in which to work after the holidays. Federal buildings remained closed. He, his wife, and their toddler came Monday to see the giant, glittering spruce brought from Colorado to serve as a national Christmas tree, normally a gathering place for Washington vacation visitors.
But a locked lattice fence was blocking access. on the site and on the Visitor Center of the White House and its bathrooms were closed, with a scribbled hand sign directing visitors to portable toilets, which were also chained. "A little embarrassing when you have young children," Forcherio said.
Access to the site was reinstated later Monday and finally, at dusk, on Christmas Eve, the lights came back. The government had announced a day earlier that it would be cordoned off due to shutdown and slowdown repairs after an episode of vandalism on the tree before the weekend. He reopened with the money from the National Park Foundation, a charitable organization.
Associated Press
A union representing employees of the US Treasury said Monday that federal employees across the country were cutting spending and changing their holiday plans with their families because of the closure.
"Just in case someone still thinks of a partial closure during a vacation The weekend is harmless, think again," said Tony Reardon of the Union of National Treasury Employees in a statement. "Your friends and neighbors working for the federal government are already showing signs of financial stress."
In the mountain town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Taylor Futch said the closure had already put additional pressure on her family, whose husband, a wildlife biologist, works with black bears for the national park Great Smoky Mountains. With two young daughters, the couple faces a $ 800 land payment due in early January, as well as a mortgage, car and regular bills.
"We try to gather a few things in case I need to start selling things on Facebook or eBay," she said. "If his salary check does not arrive here on Friday, we may not have enough for the mortgage."
Federal employees of agencies affected by insufficient credit remain unpaid until hard closing. It was expected that they would receive retroactive pay once the stalemate was broken
The closure affected the national parks unevenly, some of them still accessible with grassroots numbers, Others with funds from states or charitable groups, others stranded. Officials from Arizona and Utah have implemented plans to keep Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks open and provide services such as only public toilets, shuttles and garbage collection.
Parks in this state included reception centers.
Among the closed sites from the outset: in the southwest only, the Bandelier National Monument and the Valles Caldera National Reserve in northern New Mexico, the White Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico, the Petrified National Forest National Park north National Monument to the Ruins of Arizona and Casa Grande, in south-central Arizona
More than half of the approximately 800,000 federal employees subject to Deferred pay were found to be indispensable, such as US Secret Service agents and the Airport Transportation Security Administration agent.
A law providing for workers to receive back pay should be released by Congress.
The immediate consequences were mitigated by the timing of the closure – covering a weekend and now Christmas Eve and Christmas, both federal. vacation days. But there was little chance of resolving anything before Thursday at the earliest, when the House and Senate return to work.
Trump stayed at the White House, canceling his plans to vacation in Florida and keeping a stream of tweets Monday about his criticisms and his insistence on funding a border wall, the question at the heart
Not far from these neighborhoods, Terri Lyons, who came from Rockville (Maryland) with her 27 year old daughter as every Christmas, they turned off the light in one of her favorite monuments, the Memorial. veterans of the Korean War, during his visit Sunday evening. Only one guide tried to show tourists the night in the dark.
But people were drawn to Lincoln's illuminated memorial, she said. "It was the only one with lights."
On Monday morning, standing in front of the fence surrounding the tree, Lyons listened to the foreign tourists who surrounded her and said that she felt embarrassed. "I feel for people trying to visit from outside the country what they think of us," she said.
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The Associated Press writer in Nashville, Tenn., And Paul Davenport in Phoenix contributed to this report event.
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