Furloughed workers pinching pennies, volunteering

They're experienced research engineers and park rangers still in college, attorneys who enforce environmental regulations and former soldiers who took civilian jobs with the military after coming home from war.

And all of them have one thing in common: They were sent home on unpaid furlough last week after a political standoff between the president and Congress forced a partial shutdown of the federal government. More than 800,000 federal workers were affected at first, though the Pentagon has since recalled most of its idled 350,000 employees.

What these sidelined government employees are doing with their spare time varies as widely as the jobs they perform. Some are tightening their budgets at home, watching what they spend on food and other necessities, fearing it could be weeks before they earn another paycheck. Others are having a tough time keeping their workplace projects shelved and agency emails unread.

While Congress and the White House work on a deal to ensure furloughed workers receive back pay once the shutdown ends, some expenses can't be put off, whether it's replacing a broken furnace for $6,500 or buying diapers for a baby due before the month ends.

Here are the stories of just a few of the government workers directly affected by the shutdown.

___

As the government shutdown began its second week, Donna Cebrat was focused on stretching each dollar of her savings under the assumption she might not be able to return to work for a month or longer.

"Instead of having a dinner, I'll have a bowl of cereal. Maybe for dinner and lunch. Or maybe I'll go down to McDonald's for a hamburger off the dollar menu," said Cebrat, 46, who works for the FBI at its office in Savannah, Ga. "Lots of budget cuts. Not that I was living extravagantly before."

Cebrat makes her living processing requests for public access to FBI records made under the Freedom of Information Act. She lives alone in a middle-class suburb and estimates the money in her savings account could last her anywhere from two to six months.

She checks headlines for any news on negotiations between the president and Congress, but said she avoids reading full stories or watching shutdown reports on TV that would only bring her down further.

"I don't need to see the name-calling," Cebrat said. "I just need to see the headline."

Otherwise Cebrat has spent her days sanding and repainting her bathroom walls — a new tub, toilet and vanity will have to wait until next year — and taking walks in her neighborhood. She's avoided trips to the mall or the movies.

___

Catherine Threat sat at the bar, typing a note to her friends on Facebook.

"How do I serve my country from this barstool in the only restaurant in this tiny town outside a training base that is mostly shut down?" she wrote.

The 40-year-old staff sergeant in the Army Reserve returned from Afghanistan in July, taking a civilian job at Fort McCoy in central Wisconsin.

Then, last week, she and most of her colleagues were furloughed — a maddening existence for a woman who isn't used to sitting still for very long.

So she headed to Chicago to help fellow veterans patrol the streets to help keep school children safe. It wasn't much different from the foot patrols she did during her three years in Afghanistan.

Foot patrols there created a presence, built bonds and deterred violence.

"That's what we're doing here, too," she said as she stood with other veterans outside an elementary school in a neighborhood that has had gang violence and other crime.

The assignment was short-lived. Threat was called back to Fort McCoy, along with hundreds of other civilian employees.

She didn't see the recall as a victory "because there are still a lot of people out of work" because of the shutdown.

But either way, she was grateful for the chance to serve in Chicago.

"Sometimes, I think this has almost been better for me. I've gotten more out of it than I'm contributing," she said, quietly monitoring children walking by her.

"But hopefully, I contributed something."

___

Jonathan Corso sat at his dining room table, the signs of a terrible week all around him.

At his feet, his family's beloved dog, Dixie. The sad-eyed, 14-year-old spaniel/mutt has terminal cancer and the day before had been given only about a month to live. Under his feet, the banging of workmen installing a new $6,500 furnace at his Decatur, Ga., bungalow after the old one broke.

And there was Corso, home at 9:30 on a Friday morning. He would normally be at work at the Atlanta regional office of the Economic Development Administration, a small federal agency that provides help and construction grants to industrial parks, colleges and local governments.

Corso, 44, and his wife, Liza, who works at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were both furloughed.

In recent years, their federal jobs seemed stable while people working in state and local government and many private companies saw wage freezes or layoffs.

But now this.

The couple has savings, and they and their 7-year-old son should be fine financially for a while.

There have been a few silver linings: The couple went to lunch together on a weekday. Corso, a marathoner, began his daily 10-mile run at 6 a.m. rather than his more onerous 4:45 a.m. usual start time. That allowed him to stay up one night to watch a baseball game.

"We're trying to make the best of it right now," Corso said.

___

Rob Howard has been working through the shutdown, but not at his day job as an information technology specialist for the federal Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, which oversees people on probation and supervised release.

Instead, he's volunteering for So Others Might Eat, a Washington organization that serves meals to the poor and homeless. On Oct. 4, he was a coffee server. Two days later, he washed dishes after lunch.

"I just want to keep busy during this time," said Howard, 45, who lives in Upper Marlboro, Md.

He has also gotten work done around his house, finally finding time to redo the floor in an upstairs bathroom. He took out the old linoleum and put down some black and white tile, which he said sat in his garage "forever."

Howard also spent time cleaning.

"I could probably have a party at my house right now because it's spotless," he said.

One day he made two trips to the gym.

"I can't stay idle too long or I'll lose my mind," he said.

___

Darquez Smith found himself furloughed from his job with the National Park Service just as his fiancee is due to give birth to their daughter later this month.

Smith, 23, of Xenia, Ohio, is spending his time off looking for a new job. Working as a park ranger at the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, which tells the story of the Wright brothers, is his only source of income.

"Mentally, it's definitely no fun at all," said Smith, who has an interview lined up with a company next week. "It's never fun to be out of work and not have the ability to go to work, and still have bills to pay."

Smith said he's looking for work in information technology and is pursuing an IT degree at Central State University.

By the time rent is due Nov. 1, Smith said he'll need to be back at his Park Service job or have found other work. Utility bills and car insurance will soon follow, along with the added costs of raising a newborn.

"For me as a student, a full-time worker paying all the bills myself, with a lot of responsibilities, there's never really a day off or a fun day," he said.

___

During the government shutdown in 1995 and 1996, Dan Madrzykowski would occasionally sneak onto the Gaithersburg campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and check on some lab work or crunch some numbers.

"NIST is not really a bureaucracy; it's more a series of labs. People are driven differently," said Madrzykowski, a fire protection engineer from Damascus, Md., who's worked for the agency for 28 years.

This time, security is tighter after 9/11, and rules forbidding furloughed employees from working are strictly enforced.

So Madrzykowski, whose work has helped develop better tactics and equipment for firefighters, is devoting time to projects for a professional group, the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. And he's had to break his habit of answering email on his government-issued Blackberry from firefighters around the country.

Last week, Madrzykowski and colleagues had planned to begin work on developing standards for radio communications equipment to function in the extreme temperatures that firefighters face. The research is used by industry groups to set standards for equipment manufacturers.

That work will wait.

Madrzykowski said his biggest worry is that NIST won't be able to recruit and retain young researchers because government work no longer has the stability that once made it attractive.

"I'm old. My wife works. We've got a little bit of a cushion," he said. "But for young people in a metro area, they're barely making it. We've lost several young people to private industry."

___

Bynum reported from Savannah, Ga. Associated Press writers Martha Irvine in Chicago, Mike Stobbe in Atlanta, Bridget Murphy in Boston, Jessica Gresko in Washington, Amanda Lee Myers in Cincinnati and Matthew Barakat in McLean, Va., contributed to this story.

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As shutdown barrels ahead, brewers suffer

They're not yet foaming mad, but the U.S. government shutdown has created a small "brewhaha" for local craft beer makers.

A federal agency little-known outside the industry wields power over much of what beer lovers see on package store shelves.

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approval is required for new beer labels and certain beer formulas. The agency also permits new breweries.

Its shutdown has led to delays that have put a kink in beer makers' schedules.

"I always have labels and formulas in the pipeline, and if they're not approved, I can't print the label and sell the products," said Nicole duPont, manager at Nantucket's Cisco Brewers, maker of Whale's Tale Pale Ale and Sankaty Light Lager. "Weeks being added on to that process is really not beneficial."

Cisco has three batches of beer sitting in its "teeny, teeny" warehouse that it can't move. Sales manager Peter Burke said he left a message on U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's office line, letting her know her constituents were affected by the shutdown.

"Time is money," he said. "If beer is being produced, we've already spent money on ingredients, labor, packaging, and for us to make our money back on that, we need to sell the beer."

For Ipswich's Mercury Brewing and Distribution Co., which operates Ipswich Ale Brewery, the shutdown is impacting its contract business, according to operations manager James Dorau. The company has four labels and two formulas pending before the tax and trade bureau.

"We're unable to submit any new ones or get any results back of the current ones," Dorau said.

And when the bureau does get back to work, there's likely to be a large backlog. "There's something like 2,000 breweries ... looking for their permits (to brew) throughout the country," Dorau said.

Harpoon Brewery is starting to look at its timeline to decide if and when it should risk printing certain unapproved labels given completion dates for new product batches, according to CEO Rich Doyle.

"It adds a lot of uncertainty to the system," he said. "We have lead time for a reason. We wouldn't lose beer, you just might not hit the market when you want."

Milton's Percival Beer Co., which launched this year and produces Dot Ale 1630, is working on Saigon Lager, a beer catering to the Vietnamese community.

"When we submitted the label design, it was literally on the same day that they shut down the government," said owner Filipe Oliveira, who wanted to be selling the beer by Thanksgiving. "I don't think that's going to happen. If anything, it's going to push it back to Jan. 1."

But the tax and trade bureau's website is still functioning for one purpose: to allow brewers to pay federal excise taxes.

"You can't have your taxes in late just because they're not answering your questions," duPont said.

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Many Mass. towns wary of medical pot outlets

BOSTON — Voters convincingly backed a state law that allows marijuana to be used by people with debilitating medical conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. Yet many communities now appear hesitant to open their borders to facilities where the drug would be legally cultivated and sold.

Dozens of cities and towns have approved or are considering temporary moratoriums on medical marijuana outlets while others are drafting zoning rules to restrict where dispensaries can be located.

Moratoriums are in place in many communities where last November's ballot question passed by wide margins. In Sheffield, for example, 71 percent of voters endorsed medical marijuana; in Ipswich, just under two-thirds of voters approved it.

The local roadblocks worry patients who are waiting for access to the drug.

"Everyone says, 'I don't want it in my town, not in my neighborhood.' So where do I get it?" asks Donald Parker, of Middleborough, who says marijuana helps him control a rare condition that causes prolonged bouts of vomiting and weight loss.

Attorney General Martha Coakley ruled this year that towns could not ban dispensaries outright but may impose moratoriums or zoning restrictions. To date, Coakley has certified about 80 town moratoriums. A number of cities that aren't required to get Coakley's approval have also imposed moratoriums.

Local officials believe caution is warranted.

Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, said cities and towns need extra time to prepare for the dispensaries and ensure they don't spring up in residential neighborhoods, near schools or in other inappropriate places. Zoning changes, he added, can take months to approve, particularly in towns where final decisions rest with a town meeting that convenes only once or twice a year.

"It gives them time, but it doesn't inoculate those communities from having a medical marijuana facility," Beckwith noted.

The state Department of Public Health gave initial clearance to 158 applicants that are competing for a maximum of 35 dispensaries allowed under the law. The agency hopes to award licenses by early 2014, but with some moratoriums extending to June 30 or longer, advocates wonder when facilities might actually open.

Valerio Romano, a Boston-based attorney who represents several applicants, said the moratoriums are a "real headache" for some clients.

Romano said he spends considerable time trying to convince municipal officials that their worst fears about the dispensaries are unfounded.

There will be "no loitering out front, no one driving back-and-forth stoned," he said.

Once open, the facilities will be nearly "invisible" to the general public, and agreeing to host a dispensary can benefit a community, Romano said. Patients coming from other towns may stop at local stores or restaurants, for example, and dispensaries could be subject to future excise taxes, yielding revenue for municipalities.

Some communities do appear more welcoming, including Shrewsbury, where 59 percent of voters backed medical marijuana.

"They didn't think it was their job to stand in the way of the public interest, which was demonstrated in the ballot vote," town manager Daniel Morgado said of a recent decision by selectmen against a proposed moratorium.

Two applicants have approached Shrewsbury, one interested in opening a medical marijuana dispensary and the other in operating a cultivation facility, and either could fit within Shrewsbury's existing regulatory framework without increased demands on police or other services, Morgado said.

The town of Deerfield also skipped a moratorium and is considering a plan to restrict dispensaries to industrial zones, said Wendy Foxmyn, interim town administrator.

Deerfield backed the ballot question by a 68-32 margin, but Foxmyn said residents' concerns are understandable.

"To vote for something and then realize it could come to our own town are separate issues for people to think about," Foxmyn said. Three companies have shown interest in a dispensary in Deerfield.

Matthew Allen, director of Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance — the group that spearheaded the ballot question — said he remained encouraged that concerns could be overcome in time to begin opening medical marijuana facilities next spring.

Coakley has said no moratorium on dispensaries can linger beyond Dec. 31, 2014.

"Massachusetts has voted to allow for these, but we want to make sure that we also allow for public safety issues and public health issues" to be resolved, she said.

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Hope remains for global recovery beyond US impasse

WASHINGTON — Worries about a possible U.S. debt default cast a pall over weekend meetings of global financial leaders in Washington. But they ended with some hope over signs that the U.S. and European economies are pulling out of long slumps.

During three days of talks revolving around meetings of the 188-nation International Monetary Fund and its sister lending agency, the World Bank, top officials pressed the U.S. to resolve the political impasse over the debt ceiling. The standoff has blocked approval of legislation to increase the government's borrowing limit before a fast-approaching Thursday deadline.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has warned that he will exhaust his borrowing authority Thursday and the government will face the prospect of defaulting on its debt unless Congress raises the $16.7 trillion borrowing limit.

"We are now five days away from a very dangerous moment," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim warned at the closing news conference on Saturday. "I urge U.S. policymakers to quickly come to a resolution before they reach the debt ceiling deadline. The closer we get to the deadline, the greater the impact will be for the developing world."

Kim said a default would be a "disastrous event" for poorer countries. It would also be certain to derail the already fragile global economic recovery.

"We know there are problems," Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the head of the IMF's policy-steering committee and Singapore's finance minister, told a news conference at the end of the IMF meeting. "We know there are near-term risks, the most obvious one being what's going on in the U.S. with regard to the fiscal deficit."

But one of the big near-term concerns, the expectation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start scaling back its massive stimulus program for the economy, is actually pointing to a positive development, Tharman said. It means that the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand a reduction of the stimulus.

IMF officials have been forecasting that the strengthening U.S. economy will be a main driver of the global economy in the coming year.

At the same time, developing country economies are slowing and their markets have been unsettled since May by anticipation that the Fed will soon begin tapering its $85-billion-a-month bond purchases, which poured cash into the economy to stimulate growth.

"The eventual normalization of monetary policy as economies recover in the West will be a net positive for the emerging economies," Tharman said, meaning that the strength of the major economies will help carry the global economy forward.

Lew told finance ministers that the United States understands the role it plays as "the anchor of the international financial system" and assured them the administration was doing all it could to reach a resolution on the debt.

An effort Saturday to pass a one-year extension of the borrowing limit failed to get sufficient votes. But in a more hopeful sign, negotiations began between Democratic and Republican Senate leaders to end the impasse.

Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, was one of a number of officials who were guardedly confident that an eleventh-hour deal would be reached, as it has in similar standoffs in the past.

"I still think it is unthinkable that an agreement won't be found," Draghi told reporters Saturday. "If this situation were to last a long time, it would be very negative for the U.S. economy and the world economy and could certainly harm the recovery."

But once Draghi moved beyond the U.S. impasse, he sounded upbeat about the prospects for a European recovery. That in itself is a dramatic turn from the past three years, when global financial leaders were taken up with waves of crisis sweeping across the region and necessitating a series of international rescue loans.

The IMF called on emerging economies, which have been the drivers of the global economy in recent years, to undertake reforms that will help their economies better withstand the scaling back of monetary stimulus in the U.S. and other major economies.

When the stimulus money was flowing, emerging economies benefited from investments as investors were attracted by their relatively higher rates of interest vis-a-vis the United States and other major economies.

But many of those same countries that benefited from capital flows have been rocked since May, as the investment flows reversed and flowed back toward the U.S. as rates here began to rise.

Alexandre Tombini, the head Brazil's central bank, told the IMF steering committee that the worries about the U.S. and global economies might be overblown.

"A while ago there was an excess of exuberance and now perhaps an excess of pessimism," he said.

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Venezuela escorting US-chartered ship to port

GEORGETOWN, Guyana — A ship carrying five American oil workers is expected to touch shore in the coming hours after Venezuela intercepted the U.S.-chartered vessel in disputed waters off the coast of Guyana, a move that threatens to revive a decades-old territorial dispute between South America's biggest oil producer and one of the region's poorest nations.

The 285-foot survey research vessel, sailing under a Panamanian flag, was conducting a seismic study under contract for Anadarko Petroleum Corp. on Thursday when it was detained by an armed Venezuelan navy vessel and ordered to sail under escort to Margarita Island, which is part of Venezuela. Guyana said the crew was well within its territorial waters but that the Venezuelan navy told them they were operating in that country's exclusive economic zone and ordered an immediate halt to the survey.

Texas-based Anadarko said it was working with the governments of Guyana and the U.S. to secure the release of the crew and the vessel, which it expects to arrive Sunday to Margarita Island off of Venezuela's Caribbean coast.

Guyana's government on Saturday requested a meeting with Venezuelan officials next week to discuss the latest developments, which threaten to scare away much-needed foreign investment from the country.

"It was then clear that the vessel and its crew were not only being escorted out of Guyana's waters, but were under arrest," the Guyanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday in which it demanded the immediate release of the vessel and its crew. "These actions by the Venezuelan naval vessel are unprecedented in Guyana-Venezuela relations."

U.S. State Department spokesman Noel Clay said authorities in Washington are aware of reports that five Americans are among the crew members detained by Venezuela, but that "due to privacy concerns, we cannot comment further at this time."

Venezuela has for decades claimed two-thirds of Guyana's territory as its own, arguing that the gold-rich region west of the Essequibo River was stolen from it by an 1899 agreement with Britain and its then colony. The area, roughly the size of the U.S. state of Georgia, is a fixture of 19th-century maps of Gran Colombia, the short-lived republic revered by the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

More recently, ties between the two countries have improved, with Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro, making his first visit as president to Georgetown in August to discuss joint oil projects with his Guyanese counterpart, Donald Ramotar. During the visit Maduro described the dispute as a relic of the colonial era and vowed to peacefully resolve the issue in accordance with international law.

On Saturday, Maduro spoke for almost five hours on national television and made no mention of the recent incident.

The Singapore-owned Teknik Perdana was operating in an area of the Atlantic off Guyana and Venezuela that that has drawn increased exploration interest in recent years.

Opposition groups in Guyana are urging a strong response while the country's main business group said it's time for the United Nations to get involved to help settle the long-running territorial feud once and for all.

Venezuela said it legitimately detained the vessel for operating without authorization in its waters.

"We will jealously defend our country and our sovereignty," Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez said when asked about the incident at a news conference in Caracas Friday.

John Christiansen, a spokesman for Anadarko, said the company had received a concession from Guyana to explore the area off the country's northern coast.

"Our sole focus remains on their safety and safe passage to their respective homes," he wrote in an email, adding that the boat was expected to arrive in Margarita on Sunday.

The total number of crew members was not available, but there were at least five U.S. citizens, including Anadarko contractors and employees of TDI Brooks International, a company based in College Station, Texas, which was contracted to do the acoustic survey of the ocean floor.

Peter Tatro, the director of operations for TDI, said the company is in contact with its employees.

"The people are fine. Our concern is just sort of what happens next," Tatro said. "We don't know what to expect when they arrive in Venezuela."

___

Associated Press writer Ben Fox contributed to this report from Miami. Goodman reported from Mexico City.

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Site lets buyers haggle for goods

After his menswear business "took it on the chin" when the economy went sour, Shawn Harris was approached by fashion websites such as BuyWithMe and Gilt City that offered to promote his clothes, but he demurred.

They would have slashed his prices by half right from the outset, he said, and then he would have had to split the profits with them.

"I felt there had to be a better way," said Harris, 37. "I thought, 'What if I let the consumer tell me what they're willing to pay, and I give them a reward?'"

That seed of an idea grew into Nyopoly, the women's fashion business that he founded in Boston in 2011 and that will compete against 127 other MassChallenge finalists from around the world on Oct. 30 for a share of $1 million in prize money.

Since the website went live 11 months ago, it has registered 3,000 members, who negotiate for current-season clothes, shoes and accessories ranging in price from $65 for a pair of small-brand ballet flats to $1,300 for a Prada bag.

Members can make up to three offers on any item and receive an answer in seconds. If their first offer is accepted, they get a 
20 percent cash-back credit to use toward a future purchase. If their second offer is accepted, they get a 10 percent cash-back credit. And if their third is accepted, they get only the item — but at the discounted price they offered.

If that offer is rejected, they can either pay full price or wait 48 hours to make a new round of offers on the item. In the meantime, they can still negotiate for other Nyopoly goods.

Harris can afford to use all this haggling as a business model because he buys goods at wholesale either directly from the brands or through distribution, he said.

"It beats going to the store," said Stacie Calixte, 35, of Brockton, who's bought about a half-dozen things from Nyopoly since she first heard about the site from her mother in January. "It's more convenient, and it gives you more flexibility than sites that say, 'This is our price; take it or leave it.'"

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The Ticker

Menino to get lifetime award from biz council

Retiring Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is picking up a prestigious honor from a regional business organization.

The New England Council plans to present Menino with a lifetime achievement award at its annual dinner Wednesday in Boston.

The city's longest-serving mayor will leave office at the end of the year. He's battled health problems in recent years.

TOMORROW

• Columbus Day — Bond market closed; stock markets, commodities markets open.

TUESDAY

• Coca-Cola Co., Johnson & Johnson and Citigroup Inc. report quarterly financial results before the market opens.
• Yahoo Inc., Intel Corp. and CSX Corp. report quarterly financial results after the market closes.

WEDNESDAY

• National Association of Home Builders releases housing market index for October.
• Federal Reserve releases Beige Book.

THURSDAY

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims
• Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.
• Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew says the government's borrowing authority will expire Oct. 17.

FRIDAY

• Conference Board releases leading indicators for September.

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World finance officials focus on global risks

WASHINGTON — World finance officials pledged on Saturday to deal with new risks to the global recovery while they kept up pressure on the United States to address the biggest threat of all — a market-rattling default on U.S. debt.

The International Monetary Fund's policy committee said the United States needed to take "urgent action" to address the budget impasse that has blocked approval of legislation to increase the government's borrowing limit before a fast-approaching Thursday deadline.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who has shuttled between the global finance talks and negotiations with Congress over the debt ceiling, has warned that he will exhaust his borrowing authority Thursday and the government will face the prospect of defaulting on its debt unless Congress raises the current $16.7 trillion borrowing limit.

Across town from the global finance meetings Saturday, an effort at the Capitol to pass a one-year extension of the borrowing limit failed to get sufficient votes. But in a more hopeful sign, negotiations to end a partial government shutdown, now in its 12th day, and raise the debt ceiling began between Democratic and Republican Senate leaders.

Global finance officials were nervously monitoring those talks during their three days of discussions, held around the annual meetings of the 188-nation IMF and its sister lending agency, the World Bank.

At a concluding news conference, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim stressed the urgency for Washington policymakers to reach agreement on raising the debt ceiling before the Thursday deadline.

Kim said if the debt ceiling is not increased, the economic fallout could include increased interest rates, slower global economic growth and falling business confidence. Such an outcome, he said, would have a "disastrous impact" on poor nations.

Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, said Saturday that he found it "unthinkable that an agreement won't be found."

Draghi expressed hope that a resolution could be found soon.

"If this situation were to last a long time, it would be very negative for the U.S. economy and the world economy and could certainly harm the recovery."

Asked what might happen if the U.S. budget debate were not resolved for six months or more, Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the chairman of the IMF committee, said it would be harmful to the entire world because it would be a blow to the confidence that is needed for businesses to make investment decisions.

Adopting language used Friday by the Group of 20 major economies, the IMF's policy panel in its closing statement said, "The United States needs to take urgent action to address" the uncertainties created by the budget impasse.

The IMF panel called on emerging economies, which have been key in recent years to global growth, to undertake the reforms they need to better withstand the adjustments that will come as central banks such as the Federal Reserve begin the process of withdrawing the economic support that has kept interest rates at ultralow levels.

Emerging market economies benefited from investment flows as investors poured money into those nations during the period when rates were low in the United States and other major economies. But many of the emerging economies have been rocked in the past few months as the investment flows reversed as investors rushed for the exits following the Fed's signals in June that U.S. higher rates could be coming.

Countries such as India and Indonesia have been among the hardest hit as their currencies and stock prices tumbled.

In addition for the need for developing countries to improve their economic fundamentals to withstand the transition, the IMF called on the Fed and other major central banks to pursue interest-rate policies that are "carefully calibrated and clearly communicated."

Critics have charged that the Fed has botched its communications strategy and left investors confused while Fed officials contend that the economy has not improved as expected, and because of that, it delayed an expected initial reduction in bond purchases at the September meeting.

Now with the hit to the U.S. economy from the partial government shutdown and the uncertainty over the debt ceiling, many economists believe the Fed will not start trimming its $85 billion in monthly bond buys until next year after Vice Chair Janet Yellen, who was nominated this week to succeed Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, takes over in February. Her nomination by President Barack Obama must win Senate approval.

Many economists believe that once the transition has been accomplished, the global economy should actually begin growing at better rates in part because less support from the Fed will mean the U.S. economy is doing better and serving as a market for foreign products.

"A while ago there was an excess of exuberance and now perhaps an excess of pessimism," Alexandre Tombini, the head of Brazil's central bank, told the International Monetary Fund's policy-setting panel Saturday.

Lew told finance ministers that the United States understands the role it plays as "the anchor of the international financial system." He assured the finance officials that the administration was doing all it could to reach a resolution with Congress to reopen the government and increase the borrowing limit.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, whose country currently holds the rotating chair of the G-20, told reporters that no emergency plans had been discussed by the group to deal with the potentially catastrophic impact on the global economy of a U.S. debt default.

"We trust the U.S. authorities will find a way out of this complex situation," Siluanov said. Other finance leaders attending the meeting said they saw the risk of default as remote.

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Social Security raise to be among lowest in years

WASHINGTON — For the second straight year, millions of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees can expect historically small increases in their benefits come January.

An Associated Press analysis of preliminary figures suggests a benefit increase of roughly 1.5 percent. That would be among the smallest raises since automatic increases were adopted in 1975.

Next year's raise will be small because consumer prices, as measured by the government, haven't gone up much in the past year.

The size of the cost-of-living adjustment won't be known until the Labor Department releases the inflation report for September. It's been delayed indefinitely because of the partial shutdown.

The Social Security Administration has given no indication that raises would be delayed because of the shutdown, but advocates for seniors say the uncertainty is unwelcome.

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Shutdown impact: A few national parks reopen

The government shutdown continues with some hope for those who would like to visit the nation's national parks: The Obama administration said it would allow the states to use their own money to pay for park operations. Arizona, Colorado, New York, North Dakota and Utah were among those that jumped at the chance.

The shutdown has had far-reaching consequences for some but minimal impact on others. Mail is being delivered. Social Security and Medicare benefits continue to flow. But the shutdown has been particularly harsh on those who rely on tourism, such as communities near the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone national parks.

A look at how services have been affected, and sometimes not, by Congress failing to reach an agreement averting a partial government shutdown:

TRAVEL

Federal air traffic controllers remain on the job and airport screeners continue to funnel passengers through security checkpoints. Furloughs of safety inspectors had put inspections of planes, pilots and aircraft repair stations on hold, but the Federal Aviation Administration says it asked 800 employees — including some safety inspectors — to return to work last week. More than 2,900 inspectors had been furloughed. The State Department continues processing foreign applications for visas and U.S. applications for passports, since fees are collected to finance those services. Embassies and consulates overseas remain open and are providing services for U.S. citizens abroad.

BENEFIT PAYMENTS

Social Security and Medicare benefits continue to be paid out, but there could be delays in processing new disability applications. The Social Security Administration is also delaying the announcement of the size of next year's cost-of-living adjustment, which was supposed to come out on Oct. 16. Unemployment benefits are also still going out.

FEDERAL COURTS

Federal courts, which have been using fees and other funds to operate since the shutdown began, will likely have enough money to operate until Oct. 17, and possibly Oct. 18.

After that, the courts will run out of money and shut down all nonessential work.

A limited number of workers would perform essential work, while all others would be furloughed. Each court would make a determination on what is essential and nonessential. Judges would still be able to seat jurors, but the jurors won't be paid until Congress provides funding. Court-appointed lawyers would also not get paid.

The Supreme Court opened its term Monday and says its business will go on despite the ongoing shutdown. The Supreme Court announced Thursday it would stay open through Friday, Oct. 18, including hearing two days of arguments this coming week.

RECREATION

All national parks closed when the shutdown began, but the Obama administration said Thursday it would allow states to use their own money to reopen some of them.

Utah was the first state to take up the offer, and all five national parks located in the state reopened Saturday. Colorado also reached agreement to reopen Rocky Mountain National Park and tourists returned Saturday to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. But several states say they are unlikely to participate.

Figures compiled by a coalition of retired park service workers indicate that some 700,000 people a day would have been visiting the parks and that the surrounding areas are losing $76 million in visitor spending per day.

In Washington, monuments along the National Mall have been closed, as have the Smithsonian museums, including the National Zoo. Among the visitor centers that have closed: Independence Hall in Philadelphia and Alcatraz Island near San Francisco.

The Statue of Liberty reopened Sunday with New York footing the bill. South Dakota, aided by several corporate donors, was paying the National Park Service to reopen Mount Rushmore beginning Monday.

National wildlife refuges were closed to hunters and fishermen just as hunting season was getting underway in many states. However, the Fish and Wildlife Service said late Friday that it's reopening several wildlife refuges, mostly in the Midwest, to allow pheasant and duck hunting.

CONSUMER SAFETY

Several protection agencies have curtailed their work.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission shut down most operations on Thursday. However, resident inspectors will remain on the job and any immediate safety or security matters will be handled.

The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say they can handle recalls and high-risk foodborne outbreaks, but discovering them will be more difficult because many of the people who investigate outbreaks have been furloughed. Routine food safety inspections were suspended, so most food manufacturers won't have to worry about periodic visits from government inspectors. U.S. food inspections abroad have also been halted. USDA inspectors are on the lines every day in meatpacking plants and are required to be there by law for the plants to stay open.

The National Transportation Safety Board is not investigating most transportation accidents, making an exception only if officials believe lives or property are in danger. The agency suspended 1,500 investigations that were underway before the shutdown. Nor has the board collected information on or sent investigators to the scene of 20 accidents involving U.S.-manufactured aircraft that have occurred around the globe since Sept. 30.

Auto recalls and investigations of safety defects have been put on hold during the partial government shutdown. The public can still file safety complaints through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website, but no one has been investigating them in the new fiscal year. Manufacturers can still voluntarily recall vehicles, but major recalls are typically negotiated between the government and automakers.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is no longer screening products at ports of entry to prevent potentially dangerous ones from reaching store shelves, such as children's products containing excessive levels of lead.

ENVIRONMENT

At the Environmental Protection Agency, the shutdown means the agency can no longer certify whether vehicles meet emissions standards, delaying some new models from reaching car lots. New pesticides and industrial chemicals are also in limbo because the EPA has halted reviews of their health and environmental effects. And the nation's environmental police are no longer checking to see if polluters are complying with agreements to reduce their pollution.

HEALTH AND RESEARCH

New patients are generally not being accepted into clinical research at the National Institutes of Health, but current patients continue to receive care. NIH has made exceptions to allow 12 patients with immediately life-threatening illnesses — mostly cancer — into research studies at its renowned hospital. Normally, about 200 new patients every week enroll in studies at the NIH's research-only hospital, many of them after standard treatments have failed. Medical research at the NIH has been disrupted as some studies have been delayed. With two-thirds of personnel sent home, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been severely limited in spotting or investigating disease outbreaks such as the flu or that mysterious MERS virus from the Middle East. The FDA has halted the review and approval of new medical products and drugs. Nearly all staff at the National Science Foundation has been furloughed, and new scientific research grants are not being issued.

EDUCATION

The impact of the shutdown on school districts, colleges and universities has been relatively minimal. Student loans have continued to be paid out. But school trips to national parks and museums have been canceled, and some university researchers have been unable to apply for grants or access government databases. Vocational rehabilitation programs helping adults with disabilities could begin to feel a pinch because these agencies receive 80 percent of their funding from the federal government.

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., is canceling classes this week because of the shutdown. The institution is a federal service academy that prepares students to serve the nation's marine transportation and defense needs. Unlike other service academies, almost all of the institution's faculty and staff are civilians subject to furlough.

LABOR ISSUES

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will not investigate any charges of discrimination or respond to questions from the public during the shutdown. It will request delays in ongoing court proceedings and will not hold any hearings or mediations. The National Labor Relations Board, which investigates and remedies unfair labor practices, has virtually ceased to exist during the shutdown. More than 99 percent of its staff has been furloughed, postponing nearly every pending hearing, investigation and union election.

TAXES

The Internal Revenue Service says more than 12 million taxpayers who filed for automatic extensions in the spring have tax returns due on Tuesday. Those returns, the agency says, are still due, regardless of the shutdown.

The IRS suspended all audits and will not be processing any tax refunds during the shutdown. Got questions? Sorry, IRS call centers will not be staffed, though automated lines are still running.

ECONOMIC DATA

How well is the economy faring? That's harder to tell given the array of economic reports measuring the health of the nation's economy that have been postponed. The reports measure such things as monthly unemployment, inflation, imports and exports, and retail sales.

HOUSING

Some borrowers are finding it harder to close on their mortgages. The delays could worsen if the shutdown continues and possibly undercut the nation's housing recovery. Some lenders are having trouble confirming applicants' income tax returns and Social Security data due to government agency closures. Furloughs at the Federal Housing Administration are slowing the agency's processing of loans for some low- to moderate-income borrowers and first-time homebuyers. About 15 percent of new loans for home purchases are insured by the FHA. The Department of Housing and Urban Development won't be able to provide any additional payments to the nation's 3,300 public housing authorities during the shutdown, but those authorities should have enough money to continue providing rental assistance through the end of December.

WEATHER

The National Weather Service is forecasting weather and issuing warnings while the National Hurricane Center continues to track storms. The scientific work of the U.S. Geological Survey has been halted.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

The FBI estimates that about 80 percent of its 35,000 employees are working and says it is prepared to meet any immediate threats. However, activities are suspended for other, longer-term investigations of crimes. Training and other support functions have been slashed.

MILITARY

The military's 1.4 million active-duty personnel remain on duty. About half of the Defense Department's civilian employees were furloughed, but Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered nearly all 350,000 back on the job. Congress has ensured $100,000 payments to families of fallen service members would continue, passing a bill signed by President Barack Obama on Thursday. The payments had been suspended during the shutdown, prompting the Fisher House Foundation to volunteer to make the payments until the program got up and running again.

The military has also stopped providing tuition assistance for service members taking college courses during off-duty hours.

VETERANS SERVICES

Veterans are still able to get inpatient care at hospitals and mental health counseling at vet centers and outpatient clinics because Congress approved funding for VA health care programs one year in advance. Operators are also staffing the crisis hotline. The VA says its efforts to reduce the backlog in disability benefit claims have been stalled because claims processors are no longer being required to work 20 hours of overtime per month. Access to regional VA offices has been suspended, making it harder for veterans to get information about their benefits and the status of their claims. If the shutdown continues into late October, the VA warns that compensation and pension payments to veterans will be halted.

NATIONAL SECURITY

The CIA furloughed a "significant" but undisclosed number of workers when the shutdown began. A week later, CIA Director John Brennan said he would begin bringing back employees deemed necessary to the CIA's core missions of foreign intelligence collection, analysis, covert action and counterintelligence. He said continuing dramatically reduced staffing levels posed a threat to the safety of human life and the protection of property.

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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Sam Hananel, Joan Lowy, Matthew Daly, Frederic J. Frommer, Andrew Miga, Hope Yen, Deb Riechmann, Lauran Neergaard, Dina Cappiello, Pete Yost, Stephen Ohlemacher, Lolita C. Baldor, Jesse J. Holland, Seth Borenstein, Mary Clare Jalonick, Alicia A. Caldwell and Kim Hefling contributed to this report.

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