About 800,000 out of a total of 2m federal employees are expected to be told to stay at home on temporary unpaid leave. Food safety programmes will be halted, national parks - such as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island - will close, and the popular webcam that has chronicled the life of a baby panda at the National Zoo will be switched off. But air traffic control will still be manned and mail will be delivered.
Image by Getty.
