Here’s how a government shutdown could affect you
If the government shuts down at 12:01AM EST on January 20th – exactly one year since President Donald Trump ’s inauguration – it will be the first time the government has ever shut down under unified Republican control of government.
In preparation for the potential shutdown, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney sent a memo to the heads of federal departments and agencies Friday afternoon advising them to review their specific contingency plans and be prepared to furlough non-essential employees in the event that a shutdown begins at midnight.
“This guidance reminds agencies of their responsibilities to plan for agency operations under such a contingency. At this time, agencies should be reviewing their plans for operations in the absence of appropriations,” Mulvaney said in the memo.
An administration official says this memo supplements “constant OMB guidance that has been ongoing” between the Office of Management and Budget and the agencies.
Mulvaney said earlier Friday that the Office of Management and Budget also held a teleconference with agencies to tell them to start implementing their plans.
“The bottom line is we’re working to make sure there is no shutdown but if the Senate or the House can’t get together to finalize a deal we’ll be ready,” Mulvaney said.
Here’s a guide to how various branches and agencies of the federal government plan to respond.
There have been 12 shutdowns since 1981, ranging in duration from a single day to 21 days, according to the Congressional Research Service. The last shutdown happened in 2013 and lasted 16 days.
Nearly 800,000 federal employees were out of work without pay. In addition, more than a million other working employees had their paychecks delayed. On day five of the shutdown, Congress voted to give the furloughed government employees retroactive pay.
Meanwhile, some members of Congress kept collecting their paychecks, while others voluntarily gave up their checks. According to estimates by the financial services company Standards & Poor’s, the last government shutdown cost America $24 billion, or $1.5 billion a day.
It’s the ultimate paradox. Salaries for members of the House and Senate are written into permanent law. That’s why politicians get paid even in the event that congress can’t agree on a bill to fund the government.
“Due to their constitutional responsibilities and a permanent appropriation for congressional pay, Members of Congress are not subject to furlough. Additionally, Article I, Section 6, of the Constitution states that Members of Congress ‘shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States,’ and the 27th Amendment states, ‘No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.’”
Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan issued guidance to top Department of Defense heads, including service secretaries, under secretaries of defense, and commanders of combatant commands, on Friday that outlines how the department functions in the absence of government funds.
The department lists “excepted” activities that it considers essential services during a government shutdown. At the top of that list is national security.
U. S. military options around the world continue unaffected, including the war in Afghanistan and ongoing operations in Iraq and Syria.
All active duty (and reserve components on federal active duty) continue to work during a shutdown. Civilian personnel with the Department of the Defense who are deemed essential to “excepted” activities will also continue to work. However, both groups would not be paid until after the shutdown ends.
Non-essential Department of Defense civilian employees will be furloughed. During the 2013 shutdown, 400,000 of the department’s 800,000 civilian workers were furloughed without pay, though they were later repaid after the shutdown.
Government contracts that were fully funded prior to the shutdown will continue, but new contracts (including renewals or extensions) will be halted.
Additionally, families will not receive the $100,000 death benefit provided for fallen service members. That money can cover funeral costs and family travel. It also helps to bridge the sudden halt of once-regular paychecks that the deceased was receiving — paychecks that end immediately after the individual is killed.
During the 2013 shutdown, Congress worked to mitigate the shutdown’s effects on the Department of Defense by passing a bill allowing for the death benefits to continue. Another bill allowed service members and “essential” Department of Defense civilian personnel to be exempt from the pay freeze.
Out of 114,647 employees, 95,102 are excepted from furlough, representing 83 percent of DOJ employees. Most of these exempt employees, 72,242, are necessary to protect life and property.
Criminal litigation will continue without interruption, but civil litigation will be curtailed or postponed as long as safety of human life or protection of property are not impacted. Administrative services will curtailed and maintained only to the extent needed to support operations. Training will largely be cancelled.
The Special Counsel’s work will continue, as it is funded through a permanent indefinite appropriation. The Special Counsel’s Office is funded with a permanent indefinite appropriation and all direct employees are excepted positions because their funding is not dependent upon an appropriations that require renewal.
The U. S. District Court in Washington, DC, would have roughly three weeks of budgetary pad, meaning they can keep the lights on and doors open.
The State Department provided guidance to its employees on Friday in advance of a potential shutdown.
Starting Monday, the agency would furlough non-essential personnel and require them not to work or even use their government-issued laptops or cell phones – although they could come in for four hours to finish any required work and prepare for when the shutdown ends.
Because some U. S. missions overseas are open Sunday to Thursday, those missions would move into restricted operations starting Sunday.
State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said Thursday that the agency will do its best to “minimize the impact on the American people,” including passport and visa services. According to the agency’s internal guidance, “Consular operations domestically and abroad will remain 100% operational as long as there are sufficient fees to support operations” and except if housed in a different government building that is forced to close.
It’s the secretary’s office that reviews the available options and will make a decision, but they have no numbers yet on possible furloughs or anything.
“We’re not going to get all excited about what may or may not happen. We will have contingency plans that we put in place and we will adhere to those,” she said. But one area that won’t be touched: “We will not pull back on areas of national security or staff security.”
Tillerson is scheduled to travel to Europe next week, and the agency is still working to determine whether or not he would go, with one State Department official saying they were still awaiting guidance from Office of Management and Budget. Nauert said Thursday that Tillerson will follow all the necessary regulations very carefully, but won’t make any decisions until necessary.
The Under Secretary of State for Management normally handles the contingency plans for a shutdown, but because that role is still vacant under the Trump administration, William Todd, the acting Director of Human Resources, sent out the agency’s guidance instead.
Tillerson himself was asked about a shutdown during a photo-op with the Jordanian Foreign Minister and said the agency is ready, but hoping there isn’t a shutdown.
“We’re ready if that’s what happens. We hope not. We hope not, but we’re ready.”
In the event of a lapse of appropriations, the Supreme Court will continue to conduct its normal operations, and the Court building will be open to the public during its usual hours. The Court will rely on non-appropriated funds, as it has in the past, to maintain operations through the duration of short-term lapses of appropriations.
Staffing at most agencies will be cut to just a fraction of normal levels across federal government agencies.
