This is how long the hiring freeze will last and the implications for federal employees, those with job offers and college graduates and students.

The president is throwing the federal government, and the welfare of the men and women who fought for the nation, into chaos

More than 300,000 Department of Veterans Affairs health care jobs are exempt from the White House’s federal hiring freeze, according to a department memo sent this week.

The acting Veterans Affairs secretary said in a Jan. 21 memo that the requested exemptions cover positions critical to the delivery of health care services.

The VA memo exempts roughly three-quarters of the Veterans Health Administration's roughly 400,000-employee workforce.

A federal hiring freeze is a big deal in St. Louis, where the government is one of the area's biggest employers.