Narrative:

As aircraft X was descending for the approach at cyag (a canadian airport controlled by the us) I was quickly reviewing the approach plate for the RNAV 12 and noticed it expired the end of nov 2018. It has not been updated because those people are on furlough. This caused me to tell the supervisor and he began trying to get a current copy from canada and told me to use what I had at the moment. I felt uncomfortable with this so I verified the approach altitudes during each phase with the pilot so I knew what he would be flying and would not be surprised; even if he went missed. This took frequency time and time to check the chart I had; which was time not spent watching the scope. I didn't have much traffic but I was steadily busy completing tasks so no-one would get delayed. I nearly missed a release for aircraft Y because of the distraction.what if I had missed the date was expired? What if there had been a change due to a tower or something? I could have caused an accident through no fault of my own. All because support staff are furloughed and I don't have the tools I need to do my job safely.put the support staff back to work. They are an integral part of the safety management system. There are only so many layers of safety; and we are eroding them away quickly.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZMP Controller reported not having current approach plates due to the government shutdown and improvising using an expired plate.

Narrative: As Aircraft X was descending for the approach at CYAG (a Canadian airport controlled by the US) I was quickly reviewing the approach plate for the RNAV 12 and noticed it expired the end of Nov 2018. It has not been updated because those people are on furlough. This caused me to tell the Supervisor and he began trying to get a current copy from Canada and told me to use what I had at the moment. I felt uncomfortable with this so I verified the approach altitudes during each phase with the pilot so I knew what he would be flying and would not be surprised; even if he went missed. This took frequency time and time to check the chart I had; which was time not spent watching the scope. I didn't have much traffic but I was steadily busy completing tasks so no-one would get delayed. I nearly missed a release for Aircraft Y because of the distraction.What if I had missed the date was expired? What if there had been a change due to a tower or something? I could have caused an accident through no fault of my own. All because Support Staff are furloughed and I don't have the tools I need to do my job safely.Put the Support Staff back to work. They are an integral part of the safety management system. There are only so many layers of safety; and we are eroding them away quickly.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.