Tag: Federal Workforce

(CNN) — A possible federal government shutdown is only days away as congressional lawmakers remain at odds over funding the government beyond September 30.

Although Republicans control Capitol Hill and the White House, they need at least seven Democrats in the Senate to join them to pass a spending package under the chamber’s rules. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, however, is demanding any funding bill contain an extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, along with several other items, to get his party’s support. GOP leaders want an extension of funding for seven weeks, with additional money for security for the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

President Donald Trump does not appear interested in working out a compromise. He canceled a meeting this week with Democratic leaders and said Thursday that their demands were “totally unreasonable.”

If the impasse is not resolved, the coming government shutdown could be unlike any other in recent memory. While no two shutdowns are exactly the same, Trump and the White House Office of Management and Budget have already signaled that they are willing to use a totally different playbook — urging agencies to downsize workers in programs whose funding has lapsed and which don’t align with Trump’s priorities.

Trump is no stranger to government shutdowns. The most recent one occurred during his first term, starting in late December 2018 and lasting 35 days, the longest on record.

Here’s what we know about the looming government shutdown:

What is a government shutdown?

Congress must provide funding for many federal departments and functions every fiscal year, which begins on October 1. If lawmakers fail to pass a spending package for the full year or extend funding for a shorter period, known as a continuing resolution, then many agencies and activities must shutter until Congress appropriates more money.

Lawmakers have yet to pass through both chambers any of the 12 appropriations bills that make up the federal discretionary spending budget. So the coming shutdown would be considered a full shutdown.

During prior impasses, Congress approved annual funding for certain agencies, which allowed them to continue operating while other federal departments went dark. That situation is known as a partial shutdown.

Since 1980, there have been 14 government shutdowns, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

What is the shutdown deadline?

The shutdown will begin on October 1, first thing Wednesday morning, if Congress doesn’t act before that.

What programs and payments will stop?

Every government shutdown differs somewhat, but typically functions that are critical to the protection of lives and property are deemed essential and remain open. Agencies file what are known as contingency plans that detail what operations will continue and how many employees will remain on the job, many of them without pay.

However, in an unusual move, OMB this time is not posting agencies’ shutdown contingency plans on its website. Instead, the plans are hosted only on each agency’s site — making it harder to assess how the Trump administration will handle the shutdown and which activities it will deem essential. (OMB noted in a memo earlier this week that it had not yet received updated contingency plans from every agency.)

Previous shutdowns have stalled food inspections; canceled immigration hearings; and delayed some federal lending to homebuyers and small businesses, among other impacts.

In the most recent shutdown, students had trouble getting needed tax documents from the Internal Revenue Service to get financial aid for the spring semester, and the US Department of Agriculture warned that it could only guarantee to provide food stamp benefits through February.

Notably, important benefit programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, will continue. Also, key services — including law enforcement and border patrol — are typically deemed essential and aren’t affected.

Some government functions can continue – at least for a certain period of time – if they are funded through fees or other types of appropriations. For instance, when a shutdown loomed in the fall of 2023, the Internal Revenue Service said it could use some of the funding it received from the Inflation Reduction Act to keep preparing for the upcoming filing season – updating tax forms and technology systems and hiring and training staff.

If the government shuts down next month, it’s possible that immigration, border patrol and defense activities funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law in July, would continue. The relevant agencies’ contingency plans should specify what functions would remain operational.

Agencies and administrations have some amount of choice in which services they deem essential, said Molly Reynolds, interim director of the governance studies program at the Brookings Institution.

In Trump’s first term, Reynolds noted that the administration took some measures to make the shutdown less painful, such as allowing the IRS to process tax refunds — a departure from prior shutdowns.

But that may not be the case this year.

“The OMB memo threatening wide-scale federal layoffs if there is a shutdown suggests that this time around, they might be looking to make the shutdown more painful,” she said.

Will national parks stay open?

The impact of shutdowns on the 400-plus national park sites has differed greatly in recent shutdowns.

In 2013, an estimated 8 million recreation visits and $414 million were lost during the 16-day shutdown, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, citing National Park Service data. During the most recent shutdown in 2019, many parks remained open though no visitor services were provided. The Park Service lost $400,000 a day from missed entrance fee revenue, according to the association’s estimates. What’s more, park visitors would have typically spent $20 million on an average January day in nearby communities.

States have also stepped in to keep some national parks open using their own funds. When a shutdown loomed in the fall of 2023, Utah said it would keep the Mighty 5 parks – Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Zion – open, while Arizona planned to keep the Grand Canyon operational. Colorado also said it would also keep its four national parks and other federal lands open.

What’s the impact on airline travel?

Air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers are typically deemed essential and must remain on the job, though they are not paid. But some workers have called out sick during past shutdowns, snarling flights.

The decision by 10 air traffic controllers to stay home in January 2019 helped end that shutdown. Their absence temporarily shut down travel at New York’s LaGuardia airport and caused delays at other major hubs, including in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Atlanta, driving Trump to agree to a temporary government funding measure.

How about the impact on federal workers?

Federal workers bear the brunt of government shutdowns. Some are furloughed, while others are considered essential and have to continue working. But many don’t get paid until the impasse ends.

In March, the last time a federal government shutdown loomed before being averted, more than 1.4 million employees were deemed essential, according to Rachel Snyderman, managing director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. About 750,000 of them would have continued to be paid since their salaries were funded through other sources.

Another nearly 900,000 workers would have been furloughed without pay. (Snyderman noted that the estimates did not include the layoffs and departures that occurred in the early weeks of the Trump administration.)

In 2023, the Biden administration warned that the nation’s 1.3 million active-duty military troops would not get paid, before a shutdown was averted at the last minute.

This week, judiciary officials warned that federal courts could be affected by a shutdown within days, much sooner than in previous occurrences, because of tight budgets. While judges and Supreme Court justices would continue to be paid, many other judicial employees would not.

Federal workers are guaranteed to receive their back pay after the impasse is resolved. However, the same is not true for federal contractors who may be furloughed or temporarily laid off by their employers during a shutdown.

What does a shutdown do to the economy?

Shutdowns can have real consequences for the economy since federal spending is delayed, and many federal workers pull back on their purchases while they aren’t receiving paychecks.

The five-week shutdown in 2018-2019 resulted in a $3 billion loss in economic growth that would not be recovered, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate. It noted that some private sector businesses would never make up their lost income.

Also, because the IRS reduced its compliance activities during the shutdown, CBO estimated that tax revenues would be roughly $2 billion lower — much of which would not be recouped.

The impact stretches beyond the federal government.

The US Travel Association wrote a letter to congressional leaders in late September urging them to avoid a shutdown, which it said would result in flight delays, longer airport security lines and canceled trips.

“A shutdown is a wholly preventable blow to America’s travel economy — costing $1 billion every week — and affecting millions of travelers and businesses while placing unnecessary strain on an already overextended federal travel workforce,” wrote Geoff Freeman, the association’s CEO. “The consequences of inaction and immediate and severe.”

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