Terence Ward has worked for the U.S. Justice Department for 28 years and plans to continue to do so, but after next Friday, he and all 22 employees of the federal public defender’s office in Connecticut will work without pay if the government shutdown continues.

As the lead attorney for the Office of Federal Public Defender in Hartford, Ward is considered an ”essential employee” of the justice department, one of the federal agencies affected by the partial shutdown. The other attorneys and staff of the federal public defender’s office are considered essential too, and they must also work without pay. That upsets Ward.

“People have student loans, they have mortgages. People should not have to worry about meeting their day-to-day expenses,” he said.

Employees of the federal public defender’s office are among about 1,500 federal workers in Connecticut affected by the shutdown. Some, like Ward and his staffers, will continue to work without pay. Others deemed “non-essential” will continue to stay home as the shutdown drags into a second week, the services they provide unavailable until it ends.

On Wednesday, there was no indication the partial shutdown – the result of a bitter standoff between President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats – would end anytime soon. The longer it lasts, the more its effects will be felt – not only in the Washington D.C. area, home to hundreds of thousands of federal employees, but in every state, including Connecticut.

Those trying to purchase a new home may also have to wait until the partial shutdown ends.

Loans made through the Federal Housing Administration, VA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can move forward despite the shutdown.

However, the loans may not be completed because the IRS, part of another unfunded agency – the U.S. Treasury Department – cannot provide key tax return transcripts and income verification information.

Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture is one of the federal agencies affected by the shutdown, Bryan Hurlburt, executive director of the Connecticut Farm Bureau, said the shutdown hasn’t yet been felt by the state’s agriculture community – but soon will be.

“As farmers are planning their year, access to USDA loans or loan guarantees are very vital to their 2019 crops,” Hurlburt said. “Apples, dairy, corn, tobacco, fruit … all these require start-up capital at the beginning of the season.”

Besides the Justice Department, the USDA and the Department of Homeland Security, affected agencies include State, Transportation, Commerce, Interior and Housing and Urban Development.

Some independent agencies, including NASA, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, are also closed. The shutdown of the EPA means some of the federal grants the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection depends on are also threatened.

With no new funding from the Justice Department, Connecticut’s federal court could curtail or postpone civil cases, but criminal cases would move forward unless the shutdown drags on for weeks.

Like federal court employees, FBI employees in the state remain at work with no pay, although a call Wednesday to the FBI’s office in New Haven was answered by a man who said “we’re closed.”