A government shutdown, which would leave thousands of federal employees furloughed with just days until Christmas and Hanukkah, will set in at midnight on Friday if Congress doesn’t act.
The House on Thursday rejected a deal backed by President-elect Donald Trump that would have kept the government’s doors open, with dozens of Republicans joining with Democrats and voting against the proposal.
That bill was a slimmed-down version of a bipartisan plan to temporarily dodge a government shutdown, known as continuing resolution, that Trump and his allies torpedoed earlier in the week.
Keep up with the USA TODAY Network’s coverage as lawmakers race to avoid a serious shutdown over the holidays.
Military veterans concerned about their benefits and medical care don’t have to worry, as those payments and services will continue. Under a contingency plan the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs put out in January, veterans’ access to healthcare, other benefits and even memorial services won’t be impeded.
The VA completed an analysis early this year of how previous government shutdowns impacted the department, finding that some benefits and payments were delayed.
In order to prevent similar lapses if another government shutdown were to happen, the department revised its contingency plan in which it identified core functions and programs that would continue to operate with advance appropriations.
However, other services that veterans count on may be temporarily be unavailable, including some education and job training programs and support for veteran-owned businesses.
The contingency plan also found that the vast majority of VA employees, 96%, would be fully funded or required to report to work during a shutdown. That means, of the department’s approximately 458,000 employees, just about 18,000 of them could be furloughed, meaning they won’t work and won’t be paid.
— Eric Lagatta
If the federal government shuts down Friday, U.S. border crossings will stay open and border agents will keep working through the holidays – without pay, at least temporarily. Nearly three-quarters of Homeland Security personnel are considered essential and would keep working, even if Congress fails to strike a compromise to pay the government’s bills.
Along the U.S. northern and southern borders, roughly 19,000 Border Patrol agents will be required to show up for work. The majority of agents patrol the vast U.S.-Mexico border region, staffing field stations, interior checkpoints and temporary holding facilities, as they work to intercept smugglers and migrants who cross illegally.
Another 25,000 U.S. customs officers would be required to work at some 300 land and air ports of entry. At land ports, officers process the tens of thousands of residents, workers and students who cross each day, as well as billions of dollars in trade. Customs officers are the “last line of defense” in intercepting illegal drugs like fentanyl, weapons and ammunition, smuggled migrants or agricultural products that can harm the U.S. food supply, said Gustavo “Gus” Sánchez, president of the local chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents customs officers.
CBP essential workers are bracing for a shutdown that could upend their finances and derail their holiday plans.
“We feel like pawns,” he said.
House Republicans have a tentative plan to put individual elements of the funding extension up for a vote as separate bills.
The bills will likely need to be approved by the House Rules Committee in order to be approved by a simple majority vote, teeing up a full House vote on the legislation tomorrow.
The bill is likely to be broken out by the funding extension to avoid a shutdown, $100 billion in disaster relief funding to help with hurricane cleanup and other priorities, and $10 billion aid to farmers struggling with climate and inflation pressures.
Lawmakers are still discussing a plan to handle raising the debt limit, working toward an agreement to raise the debt ceiling as a part of a reconciliation package next year — the procedural process Republicans plan to use to pass big swaths of President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda.
– Riley Beggin
Nearly 12 hours until Congress’ deadline to fund the government, Republicans are struggling to unify, even behind a bill backed by President-elect Donald Trump. Last night, 38 representatives voted against the continuing resolution along with 197 of their Democratic counterparts.
Some notable ‘no’s included Texas Rep. Chip Roy, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, and Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar.
Rep. Ralph Norman, S.C., who voted against the funding deal last night, told reporters today that he supports a new deal reached by the House GOP.
— Sam Woodward
It shouldn’t.
Funding to agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection would be on hold. However, the agents who you typically interact with at airports and seaports, and the controllers who oversee your flights are considered essential and will be working without pay during the shutdown.
Impacts on those agencies have more to do with things like hiring and training. All the crucial safety functions like inspections and air traffic control continue.
Consular operations in the U.S. and internationally will also continue normally “if there are sufficient fees” to support them, according to the most recent guidance from the State Department. “This includes passports, visas, and assisting U.S. citizens abroad.”
There could be economic repercussions, though. A government shutdown is estimated to cost the country’s travel economy as much as $140 million per day, according to an estimate from the U.S. Travel Association.
-Zach Wichter, Nathan Diller
If the federal government shuts down at midnight Friday, it will mark the fourth time during Donald Trump’s reign as leader of the GOP that a funding dispute closed the government’s doors.
The Republican president-elect’s decision to torpedo a short-term funding bill that would have kept the government running beyond his inauguration and through March has instead put it on the brink of another shutdown and triggered a sense of déjà vu among Americans who watched this show play out before.
During Trump’s first term, the government shut down three times, including a 35-day closure spanning the end of 2018 into early 2019 that remains the longest in U.S. history.
–Michael Collins
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., tells reporters that the House GOP has reached a funding deal that he supports, but declined to offer additional details.
He said the House Rules Committee will meet in around an hour to move the bill through the committee in an effort to avoid the two-thirds majority needed to pass it without a rule.
– Riley Beggin
Democrats are insisting they won’t budge on a government funding deal that went from a bipartisan agreement to a partisan slugfest just days before the shutdown deadline.Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she’s “ready to stay here through Christmas because we’re not going to let Elon Musk run the government.”“We had a bipartisan deal—we should stick to it,” she said in a statement.- Riley Beggin
President-elect Donald Trump encouraged lawmakers to hash out their differences over spending levels now, while Joe Biden is still president, so his administration carries the blame for the looming government shut down.
“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under “TRUMP.” This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!” he wrote on his social media platform.
A bipartisan deal that had been in the works earlier in the week was shunted after Trump, incoming Vice President JD Vance, R-Ohio, and billionaire Elon Musk pushed GOP lawmakers to reject it in a public pressure campaign.
Trump said Wednesday that lawmakers should increase the debt ceiling now, so it happens on his predecessor’s watch.
The White House has accused Republicans of playing politics with the spending legislation that must pass on Friday to avert a federal shutdown.
–Francesca Chambers
House Republicans ended yesterday with a landslide defeat for their slimmed-down funding extension with a debt ceiling increase.House Speaker Mike Johnson arrived at the Capitol a few minutes ago, telling reporters to expect another vote sometime this morning.“Y’all stay tuned, we’ve got a plan,” he said.There were few details available yet what that plan is. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wrote on X early Friday morning that they are “sticking with Trump’s plan” with no plan to “cut a deal with Dems.”Democrats still control the U.S. Senate and White House. They have insisted that they won’t accept the Republicans’ new plan and urged them to go back to the deal agreed upon earlier this week, which includes a funding extension, $100 billion in disaster relief, funding for farmers and many more policies.- Riley Beggin
During a government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal workers deemed nonessential would be furloughed, meaning they won’t work and won’t be paid.
Employees who are classified as essential for critical operations in defense, energy, agriculture and other sectors would continue to work without pay. However, under a 2019 law, all federal workers would be reimbursed for retroactive wages later.
Nearly 2 million federal workers are employed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
– Eric Lagatta
Holiday travel plans are unlikely to be disrupted.
Transportation Security Administration agents who operate security at airports, as well as air-traffic control workers would be required to work.
However, in past shutdowns some airports have struggled with absenteeism that forced some operations to be suspended. Additionally, the TSA would not be able to hire new airport security screeners during the busy holiday travel season.
– Eric Lagatta
During a government shutdown, some federal agencies continue their work because at least some of their workers are considered “essential” to continue activities such as air traffic control, border protection, law enforcement, in-hospital medical care, and power grid maintenance, notes the nonprofit, nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Among those agencies and programs that continue on because some of their mandatory spending is not subject to annual appropriations by Congress: Medicare, Medicaid and, yes, Social Security.
Social Security has “dedicated funding, so it’s outside of the budget process,” said Craig Copeland, director of wealth benefits research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute. “All that money is there to paid (out). It doesn’t have to be appropriated. … You’re still going to get your checks.”
– Mike Snider
