The federal government is nearing a partial shutdown, with a range of effects on public services and the broader U.S. economy.
Employee furloughs and potential layoffs would halt some government activities. Other functions — like NASA’s space missions, Trump’s immigration crackdown and certain public health work at FDA and the USDA — would continue.
Here is a look at some of what agencies are planning:
Homeland Security, immigration enforcement would proceed mostly as-is
Most Department of Homeland Security employees would continue to work, reflecting the fact that so much of the department’s workforce is connected to law enforcement or works in areas funded by user fees as opposed to Congressional appropriations.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a plan published on its website that about 14,000 of the agency’s roughly 271,000 employees would be furloughed in the event of a government shutdown. That would include maintaining the vast majority of officers and employees at Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Transportation and Security Administration, Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, among other divisions.
Department activities such as providing Secret Service protection for President Donald Trump, processing cargo and passengers coming into the country and carrying out the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations would continue, the plan said.
Medicare and Medicaid payments would continue — with likely delays
Medicare and Medicaid programs and services will also continue uninterrupted, though staffing shortages could mean delays for some services, like the mailing of Medicare cards. The government has enough money to fund Medicaid for the first quarter of the next fiscal year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Also, eligible states will continue receiving payments from the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP.
FEMA fallout could block some new mortgages
While FEMA’s core disaster relief functions would not be affected, at least in the short term, other aspects of the agency’s work would be impacted. Some grant approvals would be paused, and no new policies could be written under the National Flood Insurance Program, halting new mortgages that require flood insurance.
Still, an extended shutdown could, in a worst-case scenario, exhaust FEMA’s existing Disaster Relief Fund, which stands at about $10 billion. House Speaker Mike Johnson warned Monday at the White House that FEMA “won’t be funded” during a shutdown.
Plans to address air traffic controller shortage would be upended
Air traffic controllers already certified and on the job would be among the essential workers who would continue during any shutdown but their pay could be affected.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels has said that having to work without a paycheck adds stress to controllers who already do a difficult job. He said that in past shutdowns some controllers have even had to get side jobs to help pay bills while the shutdown drug on.
Capt. Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, urged Congress to reach an agreement. “A shutdown threatens the stability of the safest aviation system in the world,” Ambrosi said.
However, the school that aspiring air traffic controllers attend in Oklahoma City would shut down and students would be sent home, hurting the administration’s efforts to address critical shortages in the profession. The disruption in training would likely prompt some to pursue a different career, making it that much harder to eliminate the shortage of 3,000 controllers nationwide.
Also, a shutdown could set back the multibillion-dollar effort to overhaul and modernize air traffic control equipment.
CDC plans widespread furloughs
At the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half the agency’s workers will be furloughed. Those still working include people who deal with infectious disease outbreaks and care for research animals and maintain laboratories. Federal officials said CDC would continue to monitor disease outbreaks.
Activities that will stop include research into health risks and ways to prevent illness, communications with the public, and work to help state and local officials prevent overdose deaths or other health problems, according to a federal planning document.
