The nation is watching the clock tick as Congress spends precious time trying to agree on a resolution that would keep the government from shutting down on October 1st, the new fiscal year.

“It just continues the perception of that congress can get nothing done. It just make congress look more and more disfunctional to the public and that certainly affects public opinion,” Professor Bryan Reber explained.

Our opinion of congress isn’t the only consequence. National parks won’t open, some federal employees could be furloughed, federal loans and grants won’t receive funding, and you may not be able to receive a gun permit. Passports and visas wouldn’t be processed either.

Thats a big deal for UGA student Shanti Bazouma who will be traveling to Canada in the next couple of months.

“If they were to shut down the passport agency and I applied for my passport and spent all this money I would be very upset and I’m sure the people waiting on me would be upset as well,” she said.

The good news is that military, police, and the postal workers will report to work as usual. Social security is expected to continue. The University of Georgia also says everything will function as usual because it receives state funding.

Reber sees no short term consequences that we should be too worried about.

“It’s not going to have a tremendous impact on you and me immediately, but over time if it goes on for too long then we will begin to see it affect services and that sort of thing,” Reber explained.