WASHINGTON – Just hours after the federal government entered a partial shutdown, impacts from the deadlock in Congress could be seen across the nation’s capital.
Outside office buildings, furloughed federal workers were seen leaving with boxes full of personal belongings. Tourists were met by locked doors at popular museums and scrambled to make new plans. A cancer research conference ended a day early, leaving its attendees looking for something to do.
Amid the tumult, bars and restaurants offered “shutdown happy hour” specials and filled up with federal workers musing about the furloughs, when they think they’ll return to work, and what they’ll do in the meantime.
It was the start of the first government shutdown since 2019 — and one that seems poised to drag on as Democrats dig in on health care demands that Republicans refuse to provide.
After Congress failed to pass a funding bill by midnight on Oct. 1, thousands of public servants were furloughed while others deemed “essential,” such as TSA agents, continued working without pay. Looming over the shutdown was a threat from the Trump administration to enact mass firings across the federal workforce. Multiple unions representing federal workers filed lawsuits against the administration over its threats.
More than a dozen public servants who spoke with USA TODAY on the first day of the shutdown said they hope the government reopens sooner rather than later. Though many will receive back pay for their time off, some say they’ll have to dip into their savings to cover living expenses in the meantime.
Some workers are already weighing whether they’ll apply for unemployment if the deadlock drags on. Many said they were anxious about the prospect of widespread layoffs.
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People look up at the Washington Monument ticket office window with a notice of closure following the United States Park Service placing a note on the ticket office window notifying of the closing of the Washington Monument to visitors on the first day of the federal government shutdown on Oct. 1, 2025.
Shutdown cocktails and shuttered museums
By the afternoon, federal workers packed into eateries such as Capitol Hill’s Union Pub, which offered a $7 beer and hotdog combo to anyone with a government ID. A similar scene played out at Carmine’s, an Italian restaurant offering an $8 “Here We Go Again” cocktail (a cosmo slush). Butterworth’s, a favorite among the MAGA crowd, offered patrons a $10 “Furlough-Rita.”
While federal workers took advantage of the deals, many tourists had to revise their itineraries.
On Wednesday, Oct. 1, Chantell Peña and her family approached Ford’s Theater, best known for being the site where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. When they neared the front door, they encountered a paper sign reading “The Ford’s Theater National Historic Site is CLOSED due to the federal government shutdown.”
From left to right, Daniel Peña, Anissa Peña, Chantell Peña, Ella Peña and Daniel Peña pose for a photo outside Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., Oct. 1, 2025. The tourist attraction was closed due to the government shutdown.
It was the second letdown of the day. Earlier that morning, Peña received an email saying her family’s tour of the Capitol had been canceled.
“We have been wanting to come here for years,” said Peña, who traveled from Los Angeles with her husband and children. “What bad timing.”
Jeremy Lucke, 47, experienced similar disappointment at the National Archives Museum, where he hoped to show his two daughters the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
“We should have hit this one yesterday,” Lucke, a pastor from Oregon, said to his children after realizing the museum was shuttered. “We’re leaving tonight, so this was our last chance.”
The United States Capitol Visitors Center closed on the first day of the federal government shutdown on Oct. 1, 2025.
Other attractions that kept the lights off after the government shut down include the Library of Congress and the U.S. Botanic Garden. The Smithsonian said it will use money from last year’s budget to keep the National Zoo and its 17 museums – including the Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of African American History – open through Oct. 6.
Mark Apinis, 24, traveled to Washington for the National Cancer Institute’s annual data sharing symposium, which was scheduled over two days beginning Tuesday, Sept. 30. But the event ended a day early due to a lapse in government funding.
“It is disappointing because it was my first work conference,” said Apinis, who flew in from Boston for the event. “Hopefully, we’ll have a remote day or something to finish the presentations. We’ll see when funding is back.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In DC, the shutdown brings themed cocktails and shuttered museums
