The first U.S. government shutdown in 17 years will have an affect on the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas' lone hospital and other federally funded programs.
The Commonwealth Health Centre's Division of Public, for instance, has several federal programs that will be impacted by the shutdown, including the Women, Infant and Children, or WIC, program.
The WIC program is a federally funded supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children up to 5 years old.
Some federal grants of the Division of Environmental Quality and Department of Land and Natural Resources are also affected.
The U.S. Congress failed to pass a budget before the midnight deadline to keep the government open at the start of fiscal year 2014 on the 1st of October.
