What Happens If The Government Shuts Down?

Lawmakers were scrambling to address President-elect Donald Trump’s frustrations with a bipartisan spending bill that would keep the government open, raising the specter of a government shutdown starting at midnight on Saturday.

The dramatic showdown between an incoming president, his billionaire benefactor, Elon Musk, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has thrown Washington into chaos less than a week before Christmas.

The last shutdown began in 2018 during Trump’s first term. So what happens if the government runs out of money?

What gets shut down?

Large parts of the federal government will close. Notable examples include the country’s national parks and federally-run museums. Other federal programs that provide critical access to food for vulnerable women and children are also impacted.

The impact of a shutdown extends into many facets of everyday life: In past shutdowns, inspection of chemical and water treatment plants halted, as did routine food safety inspections by the Food and Drug Administration.

What happens to federal employees?

A shutdown effectively prohibits many federal agencies from operating or spending money. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees deemed non-essential are told not to come to work, according to guidance on shutdown furloughs from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Some employees are “excepted” or “exempt” from a furlough and will continue to perform their jobs without pay. Those jobs include emergency workers, but each federal agency must determine which employees are excepted in a shutdown situation.

Employees who are furloughed are also not paid, but they will be paid retroactively after a shutdown ends due to a 2019 law.

Lawmakers in Congress continue to draw a salary.

Would a shutdown have any impact on a busy holiday travel period?

Yes. TSA agents and air traffic controllers are considered essential employees and will not be furloughed, but they would be required to work without pay.

The Department of Homeland Security estimates about 72% of the agency’s workforce would be required to report for duty without pay. In previous shutdowns, large numbers of TSA agents called out of work under such circumstances, adding immense strain to an already extraordinarily busy travel time.

What about Social Security and Medicare? And the Post Office?

Those programs are generally unaffected as they are funded by other Congressional laws that are not approved annually. There are flow-on effects during a shutdown, however, and things like benefit verification or the issuing of new Medicare cards can be impacted. (There were 10,000 people applying for Medicare who were turned away each day during a shutdown in 1996).

The Postal Service continues operation as well, as it is largely funded as an independent entity through the sale of postage products.

How long could it last, and how does the government reopen?

Past shutdowns have ranged from a couple of days to several weeks. The last one, between December 2018 and January 2019, took place under Trump’s first presidency and lasted 34 days, the longest ever.

A shutdown ends when Congress passes some sort of spending deal to fund the government, either for a short period of breathing room to renegotiate or a full funding package for the fiscal year.