Most agencies are operating at partial strength anyway. Most employees are using up the rest of their vacation timeActually, this is the perfect, perfect time to force a government shutdown if Congress won't provide funding for the wall. Why? Because the DoD and the VA would *not* be affected, since their FY 2019 budget has already been passed and signed. The shutdown would be partial and would affect DHS, DOE, the State Department, Department of the Interior, HUD, etc., etc.
and somehow the government continues to operate, can you say "waste"?