What you can and can’t do during the government shutdown

From NBC Washington

No national parks. No Smithsonian. (And no Panda Cam.) No new applications for social security, no tax audits, no way to check that the employee you want to hire is a citizen.

A would-be visitor pauses at a barricade to the Lincoln Memorial, Oct. 1, 2013. See the full image at www.twitter.com/NPCA.

The government officially shut down at midnight Oct. 1. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were furloughed, and some of the D.C.-based services tourists and locals alike rely on will be closed.

Here’s a list of what you likely can and can’t do during a government shutdown.

During a shutdown, you can:

Get help from 911: All emergency services will continue as usual, including law enforcement and emergency and disaster assistance.

Get caught by a red light camera in D.C.: Red light cameras will still be running, and tickets will still be sent out, which brings us to the next item on the list…

Get mail: Employees of the United States Postal Service are exempt from furloughs.

Get your Social Security benefits: Payments will still be issued, although some could be delayed due to a reduction in workforce.

Receive disability benefits: See above.

Receive SNAP benefits: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will continue to operate.

Receive WIC benefits in Maryland and possibly other areas: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is dependent on federal funds for adminstrative tasks, but some states have enough of their funding to pay benefits, including Maryland and D.C. A call to Virginia’s WIC office was not immediately returned. (View contact info for all states’ agencies here.)

Get a passport, probably: The Bureau of Consular Affairs is funded by fees rather than appropriated funds, so it will continue to operate, a spokesperson tells NBC Washington. Home State Department passport offices, however, are located in federal buildings that may have shut down, so you should check to see if your preferred passport office is open before visiting.

Sign up for healthcare exchanges: Despite the GOP’s attempts to defund or delay the Affordable Care Act, the plan is already funded, and online healthcare exchanges opened Tuesday for uninsured Americans.

Read the full story from NBC Washington.