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During a government shutdown, the U. Some agencies remain open during a government shutdown. These services are those that, if suspended, would endanger the health, life, or personal safety of the public.
Essential employees in departments covering the safety of human life or protection of property also remain employed. However, these employees may not earn a paycheck during the time of the government shutdown unless a specific spending bill is passed to fund those work hours.
In addition, Both the Federal Reserve and the Postal Service will both continue their operations because neither receive federal funds. These programs receive money from specially earmarked budgets and funds from advanced Congressional appropriations. Furloughed federal employees may also apply for temporary unemployment, but the processing of claims may be prolonged.
Government shutdowns can affect many government processing functions. Nonessential agencies who cannot self-fund through the collection of fees or other revenue sources may be forced to furlough , or give unpaid leave, to their employees. Most of the public will see the effect of the government shutdown in the lessening of services they may expect or receive. Perhaps the most visual of these closings is in the shutting down of national parks and monuments.
However, the real effects of a government shutdown are widespread. It may take longer or be impossible to process new loans for homes, businesses, and education. New applications for Social Security benefits and the processing of unemployment insurance will also slow. Death benefits and travel reimbursements will not be paid to the surviving family of service members killed during their military service. There are various other impacts of a government shutdown.
This includes the delay or halting of the United States Department of Agriculture's inspection of some food products and the preclusion of the Consumer Product Safety Commission CPSC from recalling unsafe products , and travelers may be unable to receive new passports which are issued by the U. Department of State. If the government shutdown remains in place long enough, more agencies will close or reduce the services they provide to the public as a whole, and a larger portion of the American population will begin to see the direct effects.
As government operations slow or stop altogether, the effects may also spread to businesses in the private sector. It's possible that the entire economy may lose money as a result of this disruption in government operations. However, the overall cost and lasting impact of a government shutdown on the economy may vary.
For example, the government shutdown of , which lasted for 16 days, was estimated to have cost the U. Federal contractors have historically not received back pay. At the beginning of the partial shutdown, an estimated , employees were furloughed, a smaller number than usual since large federal employers such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense were already funded.
Another , employees reported to work but did not receive pay until the shutdown ended. As the shutdown continued, departments and agencies such as the IRS and State Department recalled an increasing number of employees. Whereas discretionary spending must be appropriated every year, mandatory spending is authorized either for multi-year periods or permanently.
Thus, mandatory spending generally continues during a shutdown. However, some services associated with mandatory programs may be diminished if there is a discretionary component to their funding. For instance, during the shutdowns and the shutdown, Social Security checks continued to go out. However, staff who handled new enrollments and other services, such as changing addresses or handling requests for new Social Security cards, were initially furloughed in In , certain activities were discontinued, including verifying benefits and providing new and replacement cards, but processing of benefit applications or address changes continued.
During the shutdown, the Department of Agriculture had to rely on a special authority included in the previous CR to allow them to continue to issue SNAP benefits. The hours-long lapse in appropriations in February , though sometimes characterized as a shutdown, did not result in federal employee furloughs. However, before , the government did not shut down but rather continued normal operations through six funding gaps.
Since , 10 funding gaps of three days or fewer have occurred, mostly over a weekend when government operations were only minimally affected. The first two happened in the winter of when President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress were unable to agree on spending levels and the government shut down twice, for a total of 26 days.
The fourth shutdown, starting in December and continuing into January , centered on a dispute over border wall funding and was the longest-lasting shutdown at 35 days. While estimates vary widely, evidence suggests that shutdowns tend to cost, not save, money for a number of reasons. For one, putting contingency plans in place has a real cost.
In addition, many user fees and other charges are not collected during a shutdown, and federal contractors sometimes include premiums in their bids to account for uncertainty in being paid. While many federal employees are forced to be idle during a shutdown, they have historically received and are now guaranteed back pay, negating much of those potential savings. Shutdowns also carry a cost to the economy. On top of that effect, CBO notes that longer shutdowns negatively affect private-sector investment and hiring decisions as businesses cannot obtain federal permits and certifications, or access federal loans.
Theoretically, the House and Senate Appropriations committees are supposed to pass 12 different appropriations bills that are broken up by subject area and based on funding levels allocated in a budget resolution.
To avoid a shutdown, Congress would need to pass all 12 appropriations bills through both chambers and get them signed by the President before October 1. This could be done by enacting each bill individually or by packaging them together through an omnibus or minibus. On September 21, the House passed a continuing resolution that would extend current funding levels through December 3 and suspend the debt limit until near the end of There's a bipartisan infrastructure bill to repair the nation's roads and bridges and start other needed upgrades.
Over the weekend, Pelosi conceded to progressives that the House would not vote on the bipartisan infrastructure deal until Thursday, in hopes that Democrats could agree on a framework for the broader economic agenda bill.
Will Republicans allow votes on any of this? That's TBD, but probably not. McConnell is pushing Republicans in the Senate to stay unified and brushing off the private pleas of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that failing to raise the debt limit could send the US economy spiraling just as it recovers from the pandemic.
They'll just allow the country to default? For now, the coordinated blockade of GOP votes to pay the nation's bills is a totally cynical but maybe brilliant chess move from a master tactician unburdened by sentimental attachment to the pieces, which in this case include the full faith and credit of the United States. McConnell rarely ever asks us to vote in a particular way, but on this one, he's made his wishes known, and I don't think he's bluffing," Sen.
John Kennedy of Louisiana, told The Hill. Kennedy, whose state needs disaster aid that's also in that government funding bill, is among the very few Republicans who have said they might break with their party and vote with Democrats.
He said McConnell shows no sign of changing his mind. Why are the Republicans in Congress doing this? There are plenty who simply oppose the spending.
Some opposed it even when Republicans controlled Washington, although they all found a way to vote for budget busting temporary tax cuts.
But we won't have to deal with that for a few years. Voters blamed Republicans for the last two government shutdowns and there's never been a default.
Back in and , McConnell was the one wrangling for votes to keep things running and keep the bills paid.
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