What’s at risk if Congress doesn’t fund the government by Friday night
By Tami Luhby, Katie Lobosco and Betsy Klein, CNN
(CNN) — The federal government could shut down in a matter of hours if Congress does not cobble together a temporary funding plan on Friday.
Lawmakers are racing to come to an agreement that will meet with enough support to pass. President-elect Donald Trump torpedoed their bipartisan package on Wednesday, and a slimmed-down House GOP bill that Trump backed failed on Thursday.
The now-dead bipartisan agreement would have kept the federal government operating through March 14, as well as provided nearly $100 billion in disaster aid and economic relief for farmers in rural communities. The deal also would have provided lawmakers with their first pay raise since 2009. The GOP bill would have also kept the government open through mid-March and included disaster aid funding and a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling, in line with Trump’s demands.
Here’s what Americans could soon face if Congress doesn’t reach a deal by midnight on Friday:
Government shutdown looms
Lawmakers have until the end of Friday to fund the federal government – at least temporarily – to avoid a shutdown. Since Congress has not approved appropriations for any agencies, all would be affected.
But many Americans may not feel the impact immediately since the shutdown would begin on a Saturday, when many federal agencies are closed. That would give lawmakers a little more time to negotiate a deal.
Every department and agency has its own set of plans and procedures for a shutdown, which last occurred during Trump’s first term and stretched from just before Christmas in 2018 to the end of January in 2019.
The plans include how many employees would be furloughed, which employees are considered essential and would work without pay, how long it would take to wind down operations in the hours before a shutdown and which activities would come to a halt. Those plans can vary from shutdown to shutdown.
A shutdown could have an outsized impact on air travel since it would coincide with the busy holiday season. The Transportation Security Administration warned that there could be delays.
“While our personnel are prepared to handle high volumes of travelers and ensure safe travel, please be aware that an extended shutdown could mean longer wait times at airports,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske posted on X on Thursday, noting that the agency is expecting to screen 40 million passengers over the holidays, though January 2.
Roughly 59,000 of the agency’s more than 62,000 employees are considered essential and would continue working without pay during a shutdown, he wrote.
However, during the 2019 shutdown, hundreds of TSA officers called out from work – many of them to find other ways to make money. So did many air traffic controllers, snarling flights.
The National Parks Service said Thursday that should a funding lapse occur, routine visitor services would be available through Sunday. The agency is still reviewing its contingency plan to determine operations for individual parks.
However, some states could use their own funds to keep the national parks within their borders open. 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.
The Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo said Friday that they will remain open at least through December 26, except for Christmas Day, by using prior-year funds.
The Defense Department’s operations would also be affected by a shutdown, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday.
“Objectively speaking, a lapse in funding will cause serious disruptions across the Defense Department,” Ryder said, though he noted the agency would “continue to carry out our fundamental responsibility and mission to defend our nation and the American people.”
More than 2 million US military personnel, including active duty and reserves, would continue their duties during a shutdown, according to the latest planning document from the Pentagon, but they could potentially work without pay until a deal is reached. It would depend, in part, on whether Congress would pass legislation similar to the one it approved prior to the 2013 shutdown that guaranteed that the military would be paid during the impasse.
Meanwhile, the Department of Defense’s robust civilian workforce supporting service members’ efforts could be affected. About 45% of the civilian workforce – more than 800,000 employees – would be furloughed. Ryder warned that that would impact military technicians, among others. And while defense contracts awarded prior to a shutdown continue, the department’s guidance states that “new contracts may not be executed.”
The White House has also previously warned that a lapse in funding could lead to a disruption in military recruitment efforts.
All US embassies and consulates abroad would be “operational for national security reasons,” and the State Department would continue operations supporting passports, visas and assisting US citizens abroad as long as there’s enough leftover funding available, according to the agency’s latest guidance.
About one-third of the department’s employees would be required to continue working. But any new State Department grants and contracts would cease, with the exception of those that “protect life and property, and for reasons essential to national security.”
New job offers to prospective Civil Service members would be halted – potentially having long-term effects for recruitment. And any new, official travel that does not fulfill a national security purpose would stop, according to the department’s guidance.
The Food and Drug Administration would continue to handle and respond to emergencies, including monitoring for and responding to outbreaks related to foodborne illness, supporting food and medical product recalls, screening imported food and medical products and addressing other critical public health issues, according to the latest guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services. However, food safety inspections could be disrupted.
Other agencies referred CNN to their contingency plans posted by the White House Office of Management and Budget, many of which date back to the fall of 2023.
Impact of prior shutdowns
Previous shutdowns have closed the Smithsonian museums, wreaked havoc on the Internal Revenue Service just before the start of the tax filing season and delayed some federal lending to homebuyers and small businesses, among other impacts.
Public assistance programs could also be at risk. When the government came close to shuttering in fall 2023, the US Department of Agriculture warned that it did not have sufficient funding to support normal operations of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, beyond a few days into a shutdown – though individual states may have additional money to continue the program.
Also, the White House said at the time that approximately 10,000 children across the country “would immediately lose access to Head Start” programs, impacting some of the nation’s youngest citizens.
However, some agencies can continue certain operations from other sources of funding.
Also, some essential government functions continue even if the government shuts down. Notably, Social Security recipients would receive their monthly payments, and Medicare and Medicaid benefits would continue.
Government agencies had to prepare multiple times for a shutdown during the last fiscal year since Congress repeatedly punted on approving a full funding plan before finally passing one in March.
Federal workers ‘rattled’
The impact of a shutdown differs each time, but the consequences could be felt early. Agencies started informing at noon federal employees who could be furloughed, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday.
About 875,000 civilian federal workers would be furloughed, while another 1.4 million employees are considered essential and would have to continue working – most of them without pay, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, which looked at data from September. (They would receive their missed paychecks once the impasse ends.)
“A government shutdown would deliver a devastating blow to hardworking federal employees and the millions of citizens who rely on essential government services,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 800,000 civilian federal employees.
“These patriotic civil servants are the backbone of our nation — they inspect our food, protect our borders, ensure safe travel during the holidays, and provide relief to disaster victims,” Kelley continued. “Over 642,000 of them are veterans of our armed services. Allowing them to go without a paycheck over the holidays is unacceptable.”
Federal employees are “rattled” by the sudden threat of a shutdown, said Doreen Greenwald, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 150,000 workers in three dozen federal agencies and offices. But the move would also have broader consequences.
“Shutdowns waste taxpayer money, harm the economy and jeopardize the paychecks and essential services that hardworking Americans and their families depend on every day,” Greenwald said.
A shutdown would also hurt the economy. Each week it lasts would cost the economy $6 billion and shave 0.1 percentage points off the gross domestic product, or GDP, in the fourth quarter, according to Gregory Daco, EY chief economist.
Trump’s extended shutdown
Trump presided over the longest government shutdown in four decades during his first term. The 35-day impasse ended in late January when Trump agreed to a temporary funding measure that did not include billions of dollars for a border wall.
However, the shutdown wreaked havoc on many Americans and federal employees, including causing flight delays, canceling immigration hearings and making it harder for some families to obtain student loans.
Aid for disasters and farmers
Also at risk is crucial additional funding for disaster aid.
The bipartisan deal struck earlier in the week would have provided nearly $100 billion to help Americans trying to recover from multiple natural disasters in 2023 and 2024.
Every state in the nation was set to get a portion of the funds. States like North Carolina and Florida, which were hit hard by Hurricanes Helene and Milton earlier this year, were expected to get some largest amount of funding, according to a breakdown provided by Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
Some $29 billion would help replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, which has dwindled after contending with the two hurricanes, as well as other disasters.
The package also included $21 billion in disaster relief for farmers – a big sticking point in negotiations earlier this week. Lawmakers from agricultural-focused states have argued that the help is desperately needed as America’s farmers are facing lower commodity prices and higher costs for supplies.
The spending agreement would have also extended the farm bill – a sweeping package that governs many agricultural and nutrition assistance programs. Typically, the bill is renewed every five years, but the most recent version was passed in 2018 and the extension lapsed at the end of September.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Haley Britzky and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.
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