WASHINGTON — The federal government is scheduled to shut down next week as Democrats and Republicans remain at an impasse on a spending deal. Government agencies are bracing for the potential closure and what that means for their employees and services.
Federal programs rely on annual appropriations that are approved by Congress every year before the Oct. 1 deadline, which is the day the new fiscal year begins. If a new spending framework is not passed and signed by the president before that date, federal agencies must freeze all nonessential discretionary functions until a new appropriations bill is enacted.
Essential services and mandatory spending programs continue to function, but thousands of government workers are often furloughed and other offices close their doors until further notice.
How does government funding work?
Each fiscal year, Congress must pass 12 appropriations bills that make up the discretionary spending budget. If those are not passed, lawmakers must either pass what is known as a “continuing resolution,” which extends current spending levels until a later date, or enter a shutdown.
Not all 12 appropriations bills have to be passed at the same time. Although Congress has previously passed all of them in one giant package known as an “omnibus,” appropriators prefer to pass the 12 bills individually or in smaller batches.
If some appropriations bills are passed before the deadline but others are not, this is known as a partial shutdown — meaning those that were approved can operate under the next fiscal year’s budget while others cannot.
What programs are not affected by a shutdown?
Each federal agency is responsible for developing its own shutdown plans, but there are several services that are not affected by funding lapses because of their essential functions.
For example, funding for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid monthly payments are not affected because they are not subject to the annual appropriations process laid out by Congress.
Other mandatory funding that is typically not affected by the appropriations process include veterans benefits, law enforcement, border patrol, military operations, and air traffic control.
Programs can also continue if they have funding from elsewhere.
For example, President Donald Trump’s massive tax package that was passed earlier this summer provided funds to certain agencies that could be used in the event of a government shutdown, according to a memo sent to offices by the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Other offices can remain operational through funding raised by user fees or taxes.
What happens to government workers who are deemed nonessential?
Again, each office will approach the shutdown differently. But the lapse in funding will result in payment freezes and often results in government workers being sent home until further notice.
These are known as furloughs and are common during government shutdown periods. Workers that are deemed nonessential are sent home and cannot return until the government is reopened. Although they are not paid during this time, workers receive what is known as “backpay” which is the money they are owed from the shutdown period.
Those who are deemed essential are still expected to work throughout the shutdown, but similarly won’t get paid until the government lights are back on.
This year, however, may look different.
OMB officials are warning that instead of the typical furloughs, agencies may need to conduct mass layoffs instead, according to a memo sent this week that was obtained by the Deseret News.
The memo directs agencies to draft plans to eliminate those jobs that are not “consistent with the President’s priorities” if a spending deal isn’t passed — setting the stage for a more drastic workforce reduction than is typical during previous shutdown periods.
It’s not clear what that would look like in practice as it is largely unprecedented.
What about national parks?
How national parks respond to shutdowns has varied in recent years, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in financial losses nationwide.
For example, the National Park Service was forced to deny entry to millions of visitors across 40 parks during the 2013 shutdown, which the agency said resulted in more than $500 million lost in visitor spending.
During the shutdown in Trump’s first term, several parks remained open but did not provide visitor services and “damage and trash build-up were reported at many sites,” according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Utah has a fund in place to keep the National Parks in the state open in case of a shutdown.
Can a shutdown be avoided next week?
It seems more likely than not that a shutdown will take place next week, although it’s not yet clear how long it may last — or if an 11th hour deal will be struck to avoid it.
While House Republicans have already passed their version of a stopgap bill to extend current funding levels until mid-November, the proposal will require Democratic support in the Senate — something that has yet to materialize. Instead, Democrats are asking for more in return: to reverse health care cuts approved in Trump’s tax package this summer and to permanently extend Obamacare tax credits.
Those demands have been ruled as a nonstarter in this round of spending talks, Republicans say — instead suggesting negotiations on the ACA tax credits should wait until later this year. But that’s not enough for Democrats, who say they cannot trust the Trump administration to allocate government funding the way that Congress dictates.
That has put the two parties at an impasse, with neither side ready to blink. The Senate is expected to return on Monday afternoon, but a vote on government spending may not take place until Tuesday, a source familiar with planning told the Deseret News. That would leave just hours to finalize a deal.