Vets Agency Furloughs Workers in Regional Offices

7,000 sent home Tuesday

Regional offices run by the Department of Veterans Affairs closed Tuesday as furloughs began for 7,000 employees of the agency's Benefits Administration (VBA).

"All public access to VBA regional offices and facilities will be suspended … due to a lack of funds," Veterans Affairs Department spokeswoman Victoria Dillon said in a statement provided to The Hill. 

The government shutdown, in its eighth day, has caused agencies to send government workers home who are deemed "nonessential."