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The vast machinery of the federal government began grinding to a halt on Saturday morning, hours after the Senate failed to reach a funding deal. But like an aircraft carrier after its propellers stop turning, much of the bureaucracy will stay in motion for a while, and some essential services, like the armed forces, the post office and entitlement programs, will not stop working at all. ... While roughly half of the work force at the Department of Health and Human Services will be furloughed, the department said it would continue services that involve the safety of human life or the protection of property. Those include a suicide prevention hotline, patient care at the National Institutes of Health, and product recalls and other consumer protection services run by the Food and Drug Administration. (Landler, 1/20)

Roughly half the employees at the Department of Health and Human Services would be furloughed in the case of a partial government shutdown, according to a document outlining the department’s contingency staffing plans for the current fiscal year in the case of lapsed appropriations. (McIntire and Siddons, 1/19)

Medicare, which insures nearly 59 million seniors and disabled people, will keep going. And so will Medicaid, which covers more than 74 million low-income and disabled people, including most nursing home residents. States will continue to receive payments for the Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers about 9 million kids. However, long-term funding for the program will run out soon unless Congress acts to renew it. Deep into a tough flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be unable to support the government's annual seasonal flu program. And CDC's ability to respond to disease outbreaks will be significantly reduced. (1/21)

A bad flu season that has hit the entire continental United States has yet to peak and already has caused the deaths of more children than what normally would be expected at this time of the year, according to officials and the latest data released Friday. During the second week of January, more people sought care for flulike illnesses than at any comparable period in nearly a decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weekly report shows. Ten children died in the week ending Jan. 13, bringing the total number of pediatric deaths this flu season to 30. More than 8,900 people have been hospitalized since the season started Oct. 1. (Sun, 1/19)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be able to continue its immediate response to seasonal influenza in the event the government shuts down, a senior administration official said Friday night on a call with reporters. “CDC will specifically be continuing their ongoing influenza surveillance,” the official said. “They’ll be collecting data reported by states, hospitals, [and] others and they’ll be reporting that critical information needed for state and local health authorities.” (Mershon, 1/19)

Senators failed on Sunday to reach an agreement to end the government shutdown, ensuring that hundreds of thousands of federal employees would be furloughed Monday morning even as the outlines of a potential compromise came into focus. For much of the day, feverish work by a bipartisan group of senators offered a reason for cautious optimism that a deal could be reached soon. By Sunday night, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, moved to delay until noon Monday a procedural vote on a temporary spending bill — a signal that talks were progressing. (Fandos and Kaplan, 1/21)

Returning to the Capitol for a rare Saturday session, Republicans accused Democrats of prioritizing “illegal immigrants" over American citizens by insisting that protections for young immigrants facing deportation be included in any spending deal. Legislation that the House passed but that the Senate blocked early Saturday included six years of funding for health care for poor children. (Bade, Kim, Bresnahan and Cheney, 1/20)

Hopes for a breakthrough grew after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Schumer, who had not spoken for a day, huddled briefly on the Senate floor and met later Sunday to consider the proposal for a three-week temporary funding bill brokered by a bipartisan group of senators. "The shutdown should stop today," McConnell said. "Let's step back from the brink, let's stop victimizing the American people and get back to work on their behalf." (Mascaro, 1/21)

Without an agreement Sunday night, a blame game that Democrats and Republicans carried on all weekend was likely to intensify, lawmakers said. “I am really worried about where this thing goes because it’s going to get nastier in terms of rhetoric,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), predicting it would hit both parties. “First prize in a government shutdown is you get to be dumb, not dumber. That’s the best you can hope for.” (Peterson, Andrews and Hughes, 1/21)

While a lot of furious negotiation has been going on behind the scenes on Capitol Hill to end a partial government shutdown, to voters and cable news viewers it may look like most of the work in Washington is going into pointing fingers. As the countdown to shutdown hit zero, an official White House statement called Democrats "obstructionist losers." (Seipel, 1/21)

Kaiser Health News: How The Shutdown Might Affect Your Health

A government shutdown will have far-reaching effects for public health, including the nation’s response to the current, difficult flu season. It will also disrupt some federally supported health services, experts said Friday. In all, the Department of Health and Human Services will send home — or furlough — about half of its employees, or nearly 41,000 people, according to an HHS shutdown contingency plan released Friday. (1/19)