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When the United States federal government “shuts down,” the term itself can be misleading, as it suggests a complete halt to all federal activity.
In reality, a shutdown is partial and uneven. It is governed by complex laws, funding streams, and legal interpretations that determine which services continue, which are scaled back, and which stop entirely.
A government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass the necessary appropriations bills that fund a significant portion of the government’s day-to-day operations. This portion, known as discretionary spending, is distinct from mandatory spending on programs like Social Security and Medicare, which are generally protected.
The legal trigger for this cessation of services is a powerful, century-old law called the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits federal agencies from spending money they don’t have.
Discretionary vs Mandatory Spending
The impact of a shutdown is determined almost entirely by how a particular government program is funded. Federal spending is divided into two main categories: discretionary and mandatory.
Discretionary Spending
This is the portion of the federal budget that Congress must actively approve each year through a series of 12 appropriations bills. This spending covers the operating costs of most federal agencies, programs, and departments.
It includes funding for the Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, National Park Service, Department of Education, and scientific agencies like NASA and the National Institutes of Health.
A government shutdown is, at its core, a failure to pass one or more of these 12 bills by the start of the federal fiscal year on October 1. When that funding is not approved, these agencies are the ones that must legally shut down under the Antideficiency Act.
Mandatory Spending
This category of spending is authorized by permanent laws and doesn’t require annual approval from Congress. Funding for these programs continues automatically unless Congress passes a new law to change it.
This is why major benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are largely insulated from a shutdown; their funding is “mandatory” and continues to flow from the Treasury. Other mandatory spending includes veterans’ benefits and interest on the national debt.
Some government functions are protected from a shutdown because they have their own independent funding sources. These activities are considered “exempt” from the annual appropriations process.
The most prominent examples are the U.S. Postal Service, which is funded by the revenue it generates from selling postage and services, and the State Department’s passport services, which are funded by user fees paid by applicants.
Who Works and Who Doesn’t
During a shutdown affecting discretionary spending, the federal workforce is divided into several categories, which determines whether an employee is sent home, continues to work, or is unaffected.
Furloughed Employees (Nonexcepted)
A furlough is a temporary, nonduty, non-pay status. Employees whose work is funded by the lapsed appropriations and is not deemed legally essential are furloughed. They are sent home and are legally prohibited from performing any work, including checking emails or making work-related calls from home.
Accepting “voluntary services” from a furloughed employee is a violation of the Antideficiency Act. During the 34-day partial shutdown of 2018–2019, an estimated 380,000 federal employees were furloughed.
Excepted Employees
These are employees who must continue to work during a shutdown, but without receiving a paycheck until the shutdown ends. Their roles are legally “excepted” from furlough because their duties are considered essential for “emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property.”
This category is narrowly defined and doesn’t include functions that are merely important or beneficial. It typically includes active-duty military personnel, federal law enforcement officers, air traffic controllers, TSA agents, and some medical personnel. During the 2018–2019 shutdown, approximately 420,000 employees were designated as “excepted” and required to work without pay.
Exempt Employees
This category includes federal employees who work for agencies that are not funded by annual appropriations, such as the U.S. Postal Service. Because their funding is secure, they are “exempt” from the shutdown and continue to work and be paid as normal.
Back Pay and Contractors
A critical development for federal workers was the passage of the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019. This law now guarantees that all federal employees – both furloughed and excepted – will receive retroactive back pay for the duration of the shutdown once funding is restored.
While this provides financial certainty in the long run, it doesn’t alleviate the immediate hardship of missing paychecks, which can force families to delay bill payments and risk loan defaults.
However, this guarantee of back pay doesn’t extend to a vast and often overlooked segment of the workforce: federal contractors. The government relies on millions of private-sector employees who work for companies that hold federal contracts for everything from IT support and janitorial services to scientific research and security.
During a shutdown, agencies are generally prohibited from paying these contractors. Unlike direct federal employees, contractors typically don’t receive back pay for lost work. The 2018–2019 shutdown disrupted an estimated $13 billion per week in federal contracts, with nearly $3 billion of that affecting small businesses.
For these private companies and their employees, the financial losses from a shutdown are not temporary hardships but permanent, unrecoverable economic damage.
What Stays Open During a Shutdown
Despite the term “shutdown,” a significant portion of the federal government continues to operate, driven by legal mandates, independent funding, or exceptions for safety and security.
| Service/Agency | Status | Why? (Funding Source / Legal Reason) | Key Impact on the Public |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mail Delivery (USPS) | Open | Self-funded through revenue (Exempt) | There is no impact on mail or package delivery. |
| Social Security | Payments Continue; Services Limited | Mandatory Spending | Checks/direct deposits will arrive on time. Expect major delays for new cards, benefit verification, or customer service calls. |
| Medicare & Medicaid | Benefits Continue; Services Limited | Mandatory Spending | You can still see your doctor. Expect delays in claim processing, new enrollments, and resolving administrative issues. |
| Military | Active Duty Works; Pay Delayed | Excepted for National Security | National defense continues, but service members are not paid until the shutdown ends. Base services like commissaries may close. |
| Air Travel (TSA/FAA) | Operational; Delays Possible | Excepted for Public Safety | Airports remain open. Air traffic controllers and TSA agents work without pay. Staff shortages can lead to long lines and flight delays. |
| Veterans’ (VA) Benefits | Clinics Open; Payments Continue | Advance Appropriations / Mandatory | VA hospitals and clinics remain open. Pension and disability checks are paid. Some other services may be reduced. |
| National Parks | Mostly Closed or Unstaffed | Discretionary Spending | Visitor centers, restrooms, and campgrounds close. Trash is not collected. Some parks may be physically accessible but are unstaffed and potentially unsafe. |
| Smithsonian Museums | Closed | Discretionary Spending | All Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo will be closed to the public. |
| Passport Services | Generally Open; Location Dependent | User-fee funded (Exempt) | Passport applications will still be processed. However, a passport agency inside a closed federal building may be inaccessible. |
| IRS | Largely Open | Multiyear funding from IRA (Exempt) | Tax payments are still due, and processing continues. This is a significant change from past shutdowns during which services were crippled. |
| Federal Courts | Open (Temporarily) | Fee revenue and carryover funds | Courts can operate for a few weeks. Criminal cases are prioritized; civil cases, especially against the government, are often delayed. |
National Security and Public Safety
The protection of life and property is the primary justification for keeping certain government functions running. However, the application of these exceptions is more complex and controversial than it might initially appear.
Military and Defense
The nation’s defense is considered an essential function under federal law. All active-duty military personnel, including National Guard and Reserve members on active orders, are “excepted” (required to work without immediate pay) from furlough and must report for duty. However, their paychecks are frozen until Congress passes new funding or a specific law to pay military personnel during the shutdown.
The Department of Defense (DoD) employs approximately 2.9 million people, including 1.4 million active-duty service members and 750,000 civilian employees. During a shutdown, the vast majority of civilian DoD employees are furloughed (sent home without pay), creating significant operational challenges.
While core military operations continue, a shutdown has a corrosive effect on readiness that extends far beyond the obvious. Training exercises are often curtailed or canceled, not just for cost reasons but because the civilian contractors and DoD employees who support these exercises are furloughed. Permanent change of station (PCS) moves – when military families are relocated to new bases – are halted, leaving thousands of families in limbo.
Many on-base support services, such as stateside commissaries (grocery stores on military bases), are closed because they’re operated by furloughed civilian employees. This creates particular hardship for military families living on bases in remote locations where commissaries may be the only nearby source of groceries.
The impact on military readiness is cumulative and long-lasting. Maintenance schedules are disrupted, training certifications expire, and equipment upgrades are delayed. During the 2013 shutdown, the Navy had to cancel the deployment of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier due to maintenance delays caused by furloughed civilian workers.
Perhaps most significantly, the uncertainty created by shutdowns affects military recruitment and retention. Service members often report that the stress of working without pay, combined with the broader uncertainty about government stability, influences their decisions about continuing their military careers.
Law Enforcement and Border Security
Federal law enforcement agencies are central to the “protection of property” exception (the legal principle that allows certain government functions to continue during shutdowns), but the scope of this exception has evolved and been tested over time. Special agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Secret Service, along with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at ports of entry and along the border, are all required to work without pay.
The FBI maintains approximately 35,000 employees, of whom about 13,500 are special agents. During shutdowns, virtually all special agents are designated as “excepted,” but many support staff are furloughed. This creates operational challenges, as agents may find themselves without access to laboratory services, intelligence analysis, or administrative support.
The financial strain on law enforcement officers working without pay is a significant factor affecting morale and retention. FBI agents, who often carry substantial student loan debt from law school, have reported taking second jobs or borrowing money to pay mortgages during extended shutdowns. The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) has been vocal about the impact of shutdowns on officer wellbeing and public safety.
Border security operations continue, but with complications. While Customs and Border Protection agents continue to work at ports of entry, immigration court proceedings – operated by the Department of Justice – are largely suspended. This creates a backup in the immigration system that can take months to resolve after a shutdown ends.
Air Travel: A Critical Vulnerability
The safety of the national airspace is deemed a critical function involving the safety of human life. Consequently, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 14,000 air traffic controllers and the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) screeners are designated as “excepted” employees and must report to work without pay.
This keeps airports open and planes flying, but the system’s stability is more fragile than it appears. The “excepted” status is a legal designation, not a guarantee of performance. It relies on the personal financial resilience and professional dedication of tens of thousands of workers who are not being compensated for their labor.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) has consistently warned that prolonged shutdowns create serious safety risks. Air traffic control is an inherently stressful job that requires intense concentration and split-second decision-making. Adding financial stress to this environment creates conditions that the union argues are incompatible with safe operations.
During the prolonged 2018–2019 shutdown, the cracks in the system became visible. An increase in TSA agents calling in sick, presumably due to financial hardship, led to significant security line delays and even the temporary closure of a terminal at Miami International Airport. Wait times at some airports exceeded three hours, and several smaller airports had to close security checkpoints entirely due to staffing shortages.
Air traffic controller shortages had even more serious consequences. Widespread flight delays began appearing in the third week of the shutdown, and on January 25, 2019, a ground stop (a temporary halt to all flights) was issued at New York’s LaGuardia Airport due to air traffic control staffing issues. Similar delays cascaded through the system, affecting airports in Philadelphia, Newark, and Washington, D.C.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s own safety reporting systems showed an increase in operational errors and safety incidents during the shutdown period, though the agency maintained that none rose to the level of serious safety threats.
These events demonstrated that while the air travel system is designed to continue during shutdowns, a lengthy shutdown can push its human components to a breaking point, creating significant vulnerabilities in the nation’s transportation infrastructure. The shutdown of 2018-2019 ended the day after the LaGuardia ground stop, highlighting how quickly aviation safety concerns can force political resolution.
Emergency Services and Disaster Response
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) operates under complex rules during shutdowns. Disaster relief operations for ongoing emergencies continue, but the agency’s ability to prepare for new disasters is severely curtailed. FEMA’s workforce of approximately 20,000 employees is divided roughly equally between “excepted” and furloughed staff during shutdowns.
Excepted activities include life-saving and life-sustaining operations in areas that have received federal disaster declarations (official government recognition that a disaster requires federal assistance). However, mitigation programs designed to help communities prepare for future disasters are suspended, as are most grant programs that fund state and local emergency preparedness.
This creates a dangerous window of vulnerability. If a major natural disaster strikes during a shutdown, FEMA must recall furloughed employees to mount a full response, but this process can take days to complete. Hurricane season, wildfire season, and other predictable disaster periods have sometimes coincided with government shutdowns, creating scenarios that emergency management professionals describe as “planning for failure.”
The National Weather Service, (NWS), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), maintains its forecasting operations during shutdowns because weather prediction is considered essential for public safety. However, the agency’s research activities, climate monitoring programs, and long-term data collection efforts are suspended. This can create gaps in the scientific record that affect climate research and weather prediction models for years to come.
Core Benefit Programs
Programs funded through mandatory spending (automatic government spending that doesn’t require annual congressional approval) are largely protected from the immediate effects of a shutdown, though administrative services can suffer.
Social Security
Payments for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are drawn from trust funds established under permanent law, so they are not subject to the annual appropriations process (the yearly congressional budget approval process). Beneficiaries will continue to receive their checks and direct deposits on time.
However, the Social Security Administration (SSA) must furlough a large number of its employees who perform administrative tasks funded by discretionary appropriations (spending that requires annual congressional approval). This means that while payments go out, most other services grind to a halt.
During a shutdown, the SSA typically stops issuing new or replacement Social Security cards, providing benefit verification letters (often needed for loans or housing), and correcting payment errors. Customer service phone lines and field offices may remain open with skeleton crews (minimal staffing), leading to dramatically longer wait times for any assistance.
Medicare and Medicaid
Similar to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are mandatory spending programs, and beneficiaries can continue to receive healthcare services. Patients can still see their doctors, and hospitals will still provide care.
The major disruption occurs in the administrative back-end. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that runs the programs, is forced to furlough approximately half of its staff. This creates a significant bottleneck in processing payments to healthcare providers, enrolling new patients and providers, and handling appeals and audits.
While care continues, the financial and administrative strain on the healthcare system grows with each day of the shutdown.
Veterans’ Benefits
The Department of Veterans Affairs is often insulated from shutdowns because its funding is frequently approved a year in advance or is protected through other mechanisms. As a result, VA medical centers and clinics remain open and fully functional, and veterans continue to receive their disability, pension, education, and housing benefits without interruption.
The VA also continues to guarantee home loans, a notable exception to the general freeze on government-backed lending.
Self-Sustaining and Other Protected Operations
Some government functions continue seamlessly because they pay for themselves or have access to reserve funds.
U.S. Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS) operates as an independent agency of the executive branch and is funded almost entirely by the revenue it generates from the sale of postage, products, and services – not by tax dollars from annual congressional appropriations.
For this reason, the USPS is completely unaffected by a government shutdown. All post offices remain open for business, and mail and package delivery continue as normal.
Passport and Visa Services
The State Department’s authority to issue passports and visas is primarily funded by the application fees it collects from the public. Because this is a self-sustaining funding stream (like a business that pays for itself through customer fees), these consular services are generally expected to continue operating during a shutdown, especially a short one.
However, there are two potential complications. First, a very prolonged shutdown could eventually strain these fee-based resources. Second, many passport agencies are located inside federal buildings that may be closed because they are operated by other, shutdown agencies. In such cases, the passport agency itself might be inaccessible to the public.
The Federal Judiciary
The judicial branch doesn’t shut down immediately. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts is able to use funds from court filing fees and other nonappropriated, multi-year funding sources (money that doesn’t depend on annual congressional approval) to keep the federal court system operating for a limited time, typically a few weeks.
During this period, courts prioritize their constitutional duties, with criminal cases taking precedence over civil matters. If a shutdown becomes prolonged and these reserve funds are depleted, the courts would be forced to furlough all “nonessential” personnel.
This would severely curtail operations, likely leading to a broad postponement of civil cases, particularly those involving the U.S. government as a party, as government attorneys would also be furloughed.
What Slows Down or Stops Completely
While essential services related to safety and security continue, a shutdown brings a vast array of other government functions to a sudden and jarring halt. These are the services funded by discretionary spending, and their suspension creates tangible impacts on public life, the environment, and the economy.
Public Lands, Culture, and Science
National Parks and Museums
The National Park Service (NPS) is one of the most visibly affected agencies during a shutdown, and its closure often serves as the public face of government dysfunction. The NPS manages 423 areas covering more than 85 million acres, from iconic destinations like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon to historic sites and urban recreational areas.
Dependent on annual appropriations, the NPS is forced to close all of its visitor centers, restrooms, campgrounds, and other staffed facilities. Services like trash collection, road plowing, and trail maintenance cease immediately. Park rangers, except for a skeleton crew designated for law enforcement and emergency response, are furloughed.
While some large, open-air parks and monuments may remain physically accessible, they are unstaffed and unsupported. This has led to significant problems in past shutdowns that go far beyond visitor inconvenience. During the 2018-2019 shutdown, several national parks remained partially accessible, leading to what park advocates described as ecological disasters.
At Joshua Tree National Park, visitors damaged rare Joshua trees by driving off-road and camping in prohibited areas. Human waste accumulated in areas normally served by facilities. At Yellowstone, snowmobilers created unauthorized trails, and wildlife was disturbed by unsupervised visitors. Death Valley National Park saw extensive graffiti and vandalism at sensitive sites.
The National Park Service estimates that national parks contribute $40 billion annually to the U.S. economy and support 340,000 jobs. During shutdowns, gateway communities (towns that depend on park tourism) suffer immediate economic losses. Hotels, restaurants, guide services, and other tourism-dependent businesses see dramatic drops in revenue that can persist long after parks reopen.
The Smithsonian Institution, which also relies on annual federal funding, closes all of its museums and the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere during shutdowns. This includes 19 museums, nine research centers, and the zoo, which collectively attract more than 30 million visitors annually. The closure affects not only tourists but also researchers who depend on the Smithsonian’s collections and facilities for academic work.
During the 2013 shutdown, the closure coincided with peak tourist season in Washington, D.C., stranding thousands of school groups and international visitors who had planned trips months in advance. The economic impact extended beyond the Smithsonian itself to hotels, restaurants, and other tourism businesses in the nation’s capital.
Scientific and Medical Research: Irreversible Damage
The impact of a shutdown on the nation’s scientific enterprise is profound and often irreversible. Unlike other government functions that can simply resume where they left off, scientific research involves ongoing experiments, continuous data collection, and time-sensitive operations that cannot be paused without permanent damage.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), with an annual budget of over $40 billion, is the world’s largest source of funding for medical research. During shutdowns, the NIH is prohibited from enrolling new patients in clinical trials (carefully controlled studies testing new medical treatments), which can be devastating for individuals with life-threatening diseases who see these trials as their last hope.
The impact goes beyond individual patients. Clinical trials are carefully designed studies that require precise timing and continuous monitoring. Interrupting a trial mid-course can invalidate months or years of work, forcing researchers to either restart from the beginning or abandon promising treatments entirely. During the 2013 shutdown, more than 200 patients were turned away from NIH clinical trials, including children with cancer.
The National Science Foundation (NSF), which funds approximately 24% of all federally supported basic research conducted at U.S. colleges and universities, must cancel its grant review panels during shutdowns. These panels, which involve thousands of volunteer scientists from across the country, evaluate research proposals and determine funding allocation. Canceling panels creates a cascade of delays that can push funding decisions back by months, disrupting academic calendars and research timelines across the country.
The review process is particularly time-sensitive for early-career researchers applying for their first major grants. Delays can force young scientists to extend postdoctoral positions, postpone faculty job searches, or abandon research careers entirely. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has documented cases of promising researchers leaving the United States for positions in other countries due to funding uncertainty caused by government shutdowns.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) faces unique challenges during shutdowns because space doesn’t wait for politics. The agency is required to cease work on all but its most critical missions, such as maintaining the safety of the International Space Station and operating active satellites. However, space missions operate on precise orbital mechanics and launch windows that cannot be rescheduled.
During the 2013 shutdown, NASA was forced to delay the launch of a Mars mission, which meant waiting 26 months for the next opportunity when Earth and Mars would be properly aligned. The delay added approximately $40 million to the mission cost and pushed back scientific discoveries by more than two years.
Long-term research projects are particularly vulnerable. NASA’s IceBridge mission, which monitors changes in Arctic and Antarctic ice, requires continuous data collection during specific seasonal windows. A shutdown during the critical measurement period can create permanent gaps in the climate record, undermining decades of data collection and affecting global climate models.
Laboratory research faces similar irreversible losses. Biological samples that require constant monitoring can be destroyed during shutdowns. Long-term experiments involving cell cultures, animal studies, or environmental monitoring can be permanently compromised. The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) estimated that the 2013 shutdown destroyed millions of dollars worth of research materials and set back scientific progress by years in some fields.
Technology and Innovation
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which maintains the nation’s measurement standards and conducts critical research in areas like cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing, shuts down most operations during funding lapses. This affects not only the institute’s own research but also the calibration services that thousands of private companies depend on for quality control and regulatory compliance.
The Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), while largely self-funded through user fees, can face disruptions during extended shutdowns. Patent applications may face processing delays, and trademark registrations can be postponed. For technology companies and inventors, these delays can mean the difference between being first to market with an innovation or losing competitive advantage to international rivals.
Health, Safety, and Environmental Oversight
Food and Drug Administration
While inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) who oversee meat, poultry, and egg production are considered “essential” and remain on the job, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for the safety of about 80% of the nation’s food supply, is a different story.
The FDA relies on discretionary funding and is forced to suspend most of its routine safety inspections of domestic food production facilities. During the 2018–2019 shutdown, the FDA did attempt to recall some inspectors to cover “high-risk” foods like soft cheeses and seafood, but this left the vast majority of the food system without its normal federal oversight, increasing the risk of undetected contamination and foodborne illness outbreaks.
Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) work is almost entirely funded by discretionary appropriations, and as a result, its oversight functions largely cease during a shutdown. The agency stops most inspections of hazardous waste sites, industrial polluters, drinking water systems, and chemical facilities.
Critical work to clean up the nation’s most toxic locations under the Superfund program (a federal program to clean up the most contaminated sites in the U.S.) slows or stops, and efforts to address dangerous emerging contaminants like PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also called “forever chemicals”) are put on hold. This leaves potential threats to public health and the environment unmonitored for the duration of the shutdown.
Economic and Financial Services
Internal Revenue Service
Historically, a government shutdown crippled the IRS. In past events, the agency was forced to furlough as many as 90% of its employees, bringing taxpayer assistance, audit functions, and the processing of paper tax returns to a near-complete standstill. This created massive backlogs and immense frustration for taxpayers.
However, this dynamic has undergone a fundamental shift. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed in 2022, provided the IRS with a substantial, multi-year funding allocation that is separate from the annual appropriations process.
As a result, the IRS’s own official contingency plan for Fiscal Year 2025 states that, in the event of a lapse in annual appropriations, the agency will use its IRA funds to continue normal operations. The plan specifies that 100% of its nearly 96,000 employees would be retained as “exempt,” meaning they would continue to work and be paid.
This represents a groundbreaking change, effectively insulating a critical and previously vulnerable agency from the disruptions of a shutdown. This targeted, long-term funding approach has made the IRS largely shutdown-proof, a development that could serve as a model for other essential government functions.
Housing and Business Loans
While the IRS may now be protected, other critical financial services are not. A shutdown freezes major segments of the government-backed credit market.
The Federal Housing Administration (FSA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) must stop insuring and processing most new home loans, potentially delaying or derailing tens of thousands of home sales.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is forced to halt the processing of new business loans under its flagship 7(a) and 504 programs. The 2018–2019 shutdown delayed over $2 billion in loans to small businesses, cutting off a vital source of capital for entrepreneurs and local economies.
Nutrition and Food Assistance
While major entitlement programs are secure, other nutrition assistance programs that rely on discretionary funding are highly vulnerable.
WIC and SNAP
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides food assistance, nutrition education, and health care referrals to low-income families, is funded through annual discretionary appropriations. It can run out of federal funds very quickly in a shutdown, putting the health and well-being of millions of mothers and young children at risk.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, is a more complex case. While its benefit funding is technically mandatory, the program requires administrative action by the USDA to release funds to the states. In a prolonged shutdown, the authority to make these payments could be jeopardized, creating uncertainty for the tens of millions of Americans who rely on SNAP to feed their families.
The Broader Economic Impact
Beyond the immediate disruption to specific services, government shutdowns have a significant and overwhelmingly negative impact on the U.S. economy. They are not a cost-saving measure but an expensive, self-inflicted wound.
The Economic Ripple Effect
A shutdown’s economic damage radiates outward from Washington, D.C., affecting businesses, taxpayers, and the national economy as a whole.
Direct Economic Costs
Far from saving money, shutdowns are a net financial loss for the federal government and the country. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyzed the 34-day partial shutdown of 2018–2019 and concluded that it caused a permanent loss of $3 billion to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The total cost to the economy, including delayed activity, was estimated at $11 billion.
These costs arise from several factors. Taxpayers must foot the bill for nearly $4 billion in back pay for the last three shutdowns, compensating furloughed federal workers for weeks they were legally barred from working. The government also loses revenue from sources like entrance fees at national parks and fees for various permits and services.
Finally, there are significant administrative costs associated with the complex process of shutting down and then restarting hundreds of federal programs.
Impact on the Private Sector
The economic pain is felt acutely in the private sector. A shutdown halts payments to the vast ecosystem of government contractors. This disruption to an average of $13 billion per week in federal contracts can force private companies, including many small businesses, to lay off employees and absorb permanent financial losses.
The broader economic uncertainty created by a shutdown also has a chilling effect, leading private firms across the economy to postpone hiring and investment decisions until the political situation stabilizes.
How the Government Prepares
The process of shutting down the federal government is not improvised; it is a carefully planned, albeit disruptive, exercise.
The OMB Mandate
The White House Office of Management and Budget is responsible for overseeing shutdown preparations. Under OMB Circular No. A-11, every executive branch agency is required to develop, maintain, and regularly update a detailed contingency plan outlining how it will operate during a lapse in appropriations. These plans must be submitted to OMB for review every two years.
Agency Contingency Plans
These agency contingency plans, which are publicly available on the OMB website, are the definitive source for understanding the precise impact of a shutdown on any given part of the government.
They provide a detailed, agency-by-agency breakdown of which specific functions will continue under a legal exception, which will be suspended, the estimated number of employees who will be furloughed, and the number who will be retained as “excepted” or “exempt.”
For citizens, journalists, and researchers seeking to understand the granular details of a shutdown, these plans are the primary source documents. Additional resources from nonpartisan organizations like USAFacts also provide valuable summaries and links to these official government plans.
Historical Context: The Evolution of Government Shutdowns
Government shutdowns, as we know them today, are a relatively recent phenomenon in American political history. While funding disputes between Congress and the president are as old as the republic itself, the practice of shutting down government operations during these disputes didn’t emerge until the late 20th century.
Early Funding Disputes
From the founding of the United States through the 1970s, lapses in appropriations were typically handled without significant disruption to government operations. Federal agencies would continue to function based on the assumption that Congress would eventually pass the necessary funding bills, and any technical violations of spending authority would be resolved retroactively.
This approach reflected a different understanding of both the law and the role of government. The Antideficiency Act existed, but it was interpreted more as a prohibition on making unauthorized commitments than as a requirement to cease all operations during funding gaps.
Several factors contributed to this more flexible approach. First, the federal government was much smaller and less complex than it is today. Many functions now considered essential were either handled by state and local governments or didn’t exist at all. Second, the political norm was that funding disputes would be resolved quickly, making disruption unnecessary and counterproductive.
The Shutdown Era Begins
The modern era of government shutdowns began during the Carter administration in the late 1970s. The catalyst was not a major political crisis but rather a technical legal interpretation by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.
Benjamin Civiletti’s 1980 and 1981 opinions fundamentally changed the game. His interpretation of the Antideficiency Act meant that any funding gap, no matter how brief or technical, would trigger a shutdown. This created a powerful new weapon in budget negotiations – the threat of shutting down the government gave any party willing to use it enormous leverage over the legislative process.
The first shutdown under this new interpretation occurred in 1981, during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. It lasted only one day and affected relatively few employees, but it established the precedent that would govern all future shutdowns.
The Gingrich Era: Shutdowns as Political Strategy
The practice of using shutdowns as a deliberate political strategy reached its peak during the mid-1990s, when House Speaker Newt Gingrich led a Republican majority in a confrontation with President Bill Clinton. The 1995-1996 shutdowns, lasting five days and 21 days respectively, marked the first time that a major political party explicitly used the threat of government closure to advance its policy agenda.
Gingrich and his allies believed that the public would blame Clinton for any shutdown, forcing the president to accept Republican budget priorities. Instead, polls showed that voters held Congress responsible for the disruption. Clinton’s approval ratings actually improved during the shutdowns, while congressional Republicans saw their numbers decline.
The political lesson seemed clear: shutdowns were a losing strategy for the party seen as causing them. This understanding helped create a period of relative stability from 1997 to 2013, during which no significant shutdowns occurred.
The Tea Party and the Return of Shutdown Politics
The 2013 shutdown marked the return of shutdown politics after a 17-year hiatus. This shutdown, lasting 16 days, was driven by House Republicans’ demand that any funding bill must delay or defund the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
Unlike the 1990s shutdowns, which were primarily about fiscal policy and the size of government, the 2013 shutdown was fundamentally about health care policy. This represented a new use of shutdown threats – not just to influence spending levels but to force policy changes on issues unrelated to the budget.
The 2013 shutdown followed a familiar pattern: initial public blame focused on both parties, but eventually settled primarily on the party seen as making unreasonable demands. Republicans in Congress saw their approval ratings drop significantly, while President Obama maintained relatively stable support.
The 2018-2019 Shutdown: A New Record
The partial government shutdown that began in December 2018 and lasted 34 days became the longest in U.S. history. This shutdown was notable for several reasons beyond its duration.
First, it occurred with the same party (Republicans) controlling both the presidency and the Senate, making it harder to blame the opposition party. President Trump had explicitly stated before the shutdown that he would be “proud” to shut down the government over border wall funding.
Second, the shutdown demonstrated the economic and operational limits of the current system. By its end, multiple critical systems were showing signs of severe stress, from air traffic control to food safety inspection.
Third, it marked a shift in public understanding of shutdowns. Unlike previous shutdowns, which were often seen as political theater with limited real-world impact, the 2018-2019 shutdown made visible the extent to which modern American society depends on federal government operations.
International Perspective
The United States is unusual among developed democracies in its use of government shutdowns as a political tool. Most other countries have constitutional or legal mechanisms that prevent such disruptions.
In parliamentary systems like those in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, a government that cannot pass a budget faces a vote of no confidence and potential dissolution of parliament, rather than a shutdown. This creates strong incentives for compromise and makes prolonged budget disputes politically unsustainable.
Other presidential systems have different approaches. In France, if parliament fails to pass a budget, the government can implement the previous year’s budget by decree. In Brazil, essential government functions continue automatically during budget disputes.
The American system’s vulnerability to shutdowns reflects the unique combination of separation of powers, the specific language of the Antideficiency Act, and the political incentives created by the country’s two-party system.
The Politics and Process of Shutdowns
Understanding how government shutdowns occur requires examining both the formal legislative process and the informal political dynamics that drive budget negotiations.
The Appropriations Process
The federal government’s fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. To fund government operations, Congress must pass 12 separate appropriations bills covering different areas of government, from defense and homeland security to agriculture and education.
In theory, this process should be completed before October 1. In practice, Congress frequently fails to meet this deadline, relying instead on continuing resolutions (CRs) that maintain funding at previous levels for specified periods.
When Congress cannot agree on either appropriations bills or a continuing resolution, a “funding gap” occurs. Under current interpretations of the Antideficiency Act, this gap triggers a shutdown of affected government functions.
The Role of Leadership
Government shutdowns don’t happen by accident – they are the result of deliberate political calculations by congressional and executive branch leadership. The decision to allow a shutdown rather than accept a compromise reflects a judgment that the political costs of the shutdown are outweighed by the potential policy gains.
These calculations involve complex assessments of public opinion, media coverage, economic impact, and the political strength of various constituencies. Leaders must weigh the immediate disruption of a shutdown against the long-term consequences of accepting or rejecting particular policy positions.
Shutdown Theater vs. Real Consequences
Critics of shutdown politics often describe these events as “shutdown theater” – political performances designed to demonstrate resolve to core supporters rather than to achieve meaningful policy changes. There’s some truth to this characterization, as shutdowns rarely result in major policy victories for the side that initiates them.
However, dismissing shutdowns as mere theater ignores their real-world consequences. Even short shutdowns disrupt millions of lives, impose economic costs, and undermine public confidence in government institutions. The 2018-2019 shutdown demonstrated that prolonged shutdowns can create genuine threats to public safety and economic stability.
The Resolution Process
Shutdowns end when Congress passes and the president signs either a continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government or full appropriations bills for the remainder of the fiscal year. The pressure to resolve shutdowns typically builds over time as their negative effects become more visible and politically costly.
The specific terms of shutdown resolutions often depend on external events rather than the original budget dispute. The 2013 shutdown ended when it became clear that it might interfere with raising the debt ceiling, creating the possibility of a federal default. The 2018-2019 shutdown ended after air traffic control problems began affecting commercial aviation.
Long-term Institutional Effects
Repeated government shutdowns have had lasting effects on federal institutions and public trust in government. Federal employees report increased stress and job dissatisfaction, with many choosing to leave government service for more stable private sector employment.
The threat of shutdowns has also changed how federal agencies operate, with managers spending significant time and resources preparing contingency plans for potential shutdowns rather than focusing on their core missions. This “shutdown planning tax” represents a hidden cost of the current system that extends far beyond the actual periods of shutdown.
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