Government shutdown 2019: what you need to know about the border wall spending fight

The partial government shutdown has stretched into January as President Trump refuses to back down from his demands for border wall funding.

The December 21 deadline for funding part of the government — including the departments of State, Justice, and Transportation — has come and gone, and America is feeling the shutdown’s effects.

800,000 federal employees are furloughed or working without pay. Social Security, Medicare, the Postal Service, and the military are running as normal, but hundreds of Transportation Security Administration agents are calling out sick. If the shutdown drags on much longer, it could limit access to food stamps, cause delays in tax refunds, and cut federal benefits for women, children, and babies. National parks have largely remained open but are operating with limited staff — and some are getting trashed.

Meanwhile, there’s no deal in sight. Trump is as insistent as ever on securing more than $5 billion to fund a physical barrier at the southern border, while Democrats are refusing to provide more than the $1.3 billion they’ve offered up for border security.