Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More
Continue in Browser
Get hyperlocal forecasts, radar and weather alerts.
Please enter a valid zipcode.
Save
A government shutdown is looming after President-elect Donald Trump and his allies scuttled the funding deal crafted by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., this week.
If the Republican majority in the House can’t reach an agreement with Senate Democrats and the White House by 11:59 p.m. Friday, vast swaths of the federal government — from Transportation Security Administration agents who operate security at airports to Postal Service workers who deliver mail — would go unfunded and begin to cease operations or work unpaid just before the holidays.
Trump expressed his strong opposition to the 1,540-page temporary funding deal made public earlier this week that would have kept the government funded at roughly its current levels through mid-March, when Republicans will have control of both chambers of Congress and the White House.
But Trump and his allies opposed some of the provisions in the deal and the president-elect has also said he wants House GOP leadership to raise the federal debt ceiling before he takes office — something that generally takes months to negotiate and that his own party has increasingly opposed.
On Wednesday, Trump urged congressional Republicans to refuse any deal with the Democratic majority in the Senate and President Joe Biden and “CALL THEIR BLUFF” on shutting down the government. In a series of TV interviews on Thursday morning, Trump declined to commit to supporting Johnson for speaker when the new Congress convenes next month if the Louisiana Republican, a close ally, can’t deliver what the incoming president wants from a government spending bill.
Without a funding package in place by the deadline the United States would be headed for its first shutdown since December 2018, during Trump’s first term. That one lasted a little more than 30 days — the longest in U.S. history — and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, cost the U.S. economy about $11 billion.
Here’s what you need to know about government shutdowns and what it would mean for Americans across the country if one begins this weekend.
A shutdown happens when Congress fails to pass some type of funding legislation that is signed into law by the president. Lawmakers are supposed to pass 12 different spending bills to fund agencies across the government, but the process is time-consuming. They often resort to passing a temporary extension, called a continuing resolution. or CR, to allow the government to keep operating.
When no funding legislation is enacted, federal agencies have to stop all nonessential work and will not send paychecks as long as the shutdown lasts.
Although employees deemed essential, such as air traffic controllers and law enforcement officers, still have to report to work, other federal employees are furloughed. Under a 2019 law, those same workers are slated to receive back pay once the funding impasse is resolved.
Government funding expires Dec. 21. A shutdown would effectively begin at 12:01 a.m. if Congress is not able to pass a funding plan that the president signs into law.
Congress is supposed to fund the federal government before the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, but as lawmakers have with increasing frequency this year, Congress was only able to get a three-month funding deal passed in September.
It appears unlikely lawmakers will fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year this time around. Instead congressional leaders are aiming for another short-term funding deal.
It is impossible to predict how long a shutdown would last. With Congress divided between a Democratic-controlled Senate and Republican-led House until a new, Republican-controlled Congress is seated next month, it is unclear if a deal could be reached before the end of the month.
Millions of federal workers would face delayed paychecks if the government shuts down, including many of the roughly 2 million military personnel and more than 2 million civilian workers across the nation. With the holidays on the horizon, lawmakers are faced with putting millions of their constituents out of work if a deal can’t be reached.
Nearly 60% of federal workers are employed by the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security.
Federal workers are stationed in all 50 states and have direct interaction with taxpayers, including TSA agents, Postal Service workers and National Park Service employees. In past shutdowns, TSA workers stayed on the job and kept airports operating even as they worked without pay.
Some federal offices would also have to close or face shortened hours during a shutdown.
Beyond federal workers, a shutdown could have far-reaching effects on government services. People applying for services such as clinical trials, firearm permits and passports could see delays.
Businesses closely connected to the federal government, such as federal contractors or tourist services around national parks, could see disruptions and downturns. The travel sector could lose $140 million daily in a shutdown, according to the U.S. Travel Industry Association.
Payments under Medicare and Medicaid programs would still go out and the Social Security Administration would issue retirement and disability benefits. But it’s possible that new applications wouldn’t be processed. During a government shutdown in 1996, thousands of Medicare applicants were turned away daily.
And distribution of benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, could see some disruptions. During the 2018-19 government shutdown, the Agriculture Department was only authorized to pay out SNAP benefits for 30 days after the shutdown began and stores were unable to renew their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card licenses, preventing them from accepting SNAP benefits if their licenses expired during the shutdown.
The president and members of Congress would continue to work and get paid. However, any members of their staff who are not deemed essential would be furloughed.
The judiciary would be able to continue to operate for a limited time using funds derived from court filings and other fees, as well as other approved funding.
Prior to the 1980s, lapses in government funding did not result in government operations significantly shuttering. But then-U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti, in a series of legal opinions in 1980 and 1981, argued that government agencies cannot legally operate during a funding gap.
Federal officials have since operated under an understanding they can make exemptions for functions that are “essential” for public safety and constitutional duties.
Since 1976, there have been 22 funding gaps, with 10 of them leading to workers being furloughed. But most of the significant shutdowns have taken place since Bill Clinton’s presidency, when then-Speaker Newt Gingrich and his conservative House majority demanded budget cuts.
The longest government shutdown happened between 2018 and 2019 when then-President Trump and congressional Democrats entered a standoff over his demand for funding for a border wall. The disruption lasted 35 days, through the holiday season, but was also only a partial government shutdown because Congress had passed some appropriations bills to fund parts of the government.
It’s the responsibility of Congress to fund the government. The House and Senate have to agree to fund the government in some way, and the president has to sign the legislation into law.
Short-term funding bills often incude money for pressing national priorities, such as emergency assistance for victims of natural disasters.
This time Trump, Biden and congressional leaders from both parties all agree on the roughly $100 billion the White House wants for federal disaster aid after major hurricanes ravaged the Southeast and $10 billion in economic aid for farmers, although some rank-and-file members of Congress are not on board.
There is also disagreement over other provisions in the continuing resolution, and Republican lawmakers are under threat by billionaire businessman Elon Musk of primary challenges. The key Trump ally who has been tapped to help cut federal spending in the new administration opposes the deal on the basis of numerous false and misleading claims about it that he’s made in recent days.
“My phone was ringing off the hook,” Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr said on Wednesday. “The people who elected us are listening to Elon Musk.”
Spectrum News’ Joseph Konig, Angi Gonzalez, Maddie Gannon and Justin Tasolides contributed to this report.
