So-called "atomic" clocks actually use the digital signal from WWVB @ 60kHz for their timebase. WWVB evidently won't be affected by the shutdown.
That being said, the proposed shutdown seems to me to be a case of "cutting off your nose to spite your face". In the greater scheme of things, the operational costs are a tiny, tiny fraction of government spending. In fact, the government spends that amount on other things approximately every 30 seconds. WWV/WWVH as a source of accurate time information may be bordering on obsolete, but, as a source for extremely accurate frequency information they are invaluable...not to mention periodic updates on solar conditions, ocean weather, etc. "Internet time" may be useful for ordinary purposes, but there's an inherent lag of a few milliseconds in the time info.
And, like many, a WWV QSL card was among the first I received all those years ago. Ended up verifying them on all their frequencies, as well as WWVH on 5 & 10 mHz. 'VH is a tough catch here in the Midwest, propagation has to be just right to enable reception. One plus is that WWVH uses a female voice for the announcements rather than a male used on WWV.
Old radio joke: "My last gig was morning drive on WWV"
