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An employee of the transport administration uses a food bank for officials affected by the shutdown. REUTERS / Brendan McDermid

It is this Thursday that the US Senate will try to agree on a text ending the "shutdown". It has been two months since the lack of agreement on the budget with the Congress, a number of administrations operate in slow motion. The US president demands that the financing of his antimigrant wall at the Mexican border be included in the budget law, which the Democrats refuse. A blockage that weighs on the economic activity of the country.

If the shutdown indirectly affects 0.5% of US workers, it indirectly affects the country's growth.

The Standard and Poor's agency now estimates the impact on productivity at nearly $ 3 billion. That is 0.02% of the gross domestic product of the United States. If it lasts the entire quarter, it could reduce growth to zero, according to some experts.

Nearly eight hundred thousand federal employees are now off work or have to work without being paid. In ministries considered indispensable, such as Defense, Police, Justice or Transport, the numbers have been reduced to a minimum.

Throughout the country, museums and national parks are closed, the courts are idling and the border police can not respond to requests for asylum.

This shutdown is the longest in the history of the country. And for the first time, many government officials in need use food banks and free meals. Others have chosen precarious odd jobs to survive. But we also see solidarity movements everywhere in the country.

► (Re) read: The Senate must vote two proposals to exit the "shutdown", without real hope