As the Federal government approaches the near certainty of a shutdown late Saturday, agencies began issuing their respective contingency plans to their workforce – indicating which employees and services are deemed essential and which will be furloughed.
Many government operations would be rendered inaccessible if funds expire as soon as this weekend – potentially resulting in closed parks and passport offices, and eventually, more worrisome interruptions affecting housing, food, and health aid.
Caught in the middle are the nation’s roughly two million Federal employees and its approximately 1.3 million active-duty troops. Last week, the White House directed agencies to prepare for a possible funding lapse, which would cut off their pay for as long as Congress fails to come to an agreement – though they would receive backpay once the shutdown ends.
Some of these civilian employees will be furloughed – sent home without a clear date of return – and others will be forced to report to work. The latter serve urgent functions, addressing needs related to public safety and national security – a category that includes bag-inspection agents at airports, Federal disaster aid workers, and more than 19,000 Border Patrol officials.
Resources for Feds
Feds can find all updated contingency plans for their respective agencies on the White House’s website here. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directed officials to inform individual employees of their exempt statuses two days before the possible shutdown.
Additionally, OMB provided agencies with an updated set of frequently asked questions to better understand how to prepare for a possible government shutdown, which Feds can access here. The new 17-page FAQs offers answers to more than 30 questions. The document covers everything from performing an orderly shutdown to how to deal with contracts and grants to managing technology support services.
72% of DHS Staff Required to Work Without Pay
Nearly three in four Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees – more than 185,000 people – would be required to continue working through a shutdown, without receiving a paycheck, the agency noted in a fact sheet released Thursday.
“The [DHS] workforce is comprised of extraordinary public servants who safeguard this nation around the clock – responding to cyberattacks; protecting and saving lives on land, at sea, and in the air; securing our nation’s borders and critical infrastructure; deploying across the country to help Americans recover from disasters; and so much more,” the agency wrote on Sept. 28. “Any lapse in federal funding would disrupt this vital work, leaving Americans less safe as a result.”
Specifically, DHS warned that there would be reduced cybersecurity support to the nation’s critical infrastructure. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would be forced to furlough 79 percent of its staff, which would degrade its capacity to provide timely and actionable guidance to help partners defend their networks.
Additionally, DHS noted that even a short-term government shutdown would have long-term consequences on hiring and onboarding at the department.
IRS to Furlough Two-Thirds of Workforce
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will be forced to send home most of its employees this weekend, sparking concerns of possible backlogs at the agency.
On Thursday, the tax agency released an updated contingency plan showing that it will furlough up to 60,000 of its 90,000 employees if the government comes to a halt on Sunday, a move that will affect vital services to taxpayers as late-filing season closes out.
Federal R&D put on Hold
The Federal research and development (R&D) community will take a hit during a potential government shutdown, with the National Science Foundation announcing that it will furlough nearly all its 2,000 employees.
The Department of Energy (DoE), which runs 17 national laboratories and large facilities, has enough cash to continue operations for up to five days, according to the department’s website. If that reserve runs out, DoE would be obligated to idle facilities, and the labs – most of which are run by contractors – would have to furlough most of their 70,000 employees.
About 90 percent of NASA’s 18,310 staff would be furloughed.
Many Federal scientists at other agencies, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology, will also need to wind down their work and prepare to shut off their computers.
Feds Will get a Paycheck When Gov Operations Resume
Federal employees, whether they remain on the job or are furloughed, won’t get paid while the government is shut down. However, they will receive back pay once funding is restored to their agency. In prior shutdowns, Congress had to approve back pay for employees, but a 2019 law made it mandatory.
Contractors, however, are not guaranteed back pay.
Democrats in the House and Senate are looking to make sure furloughed contractors receive back pay just like federal employees.
Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., and Donald Norcross, D-N.J., along with Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., have introduced the Fair Pay for Federal Contractors Act to pay Federal contractors wages lost during a shutdown. The bill also proposes restoring paid leave time used by furloughed contractors during a shutdown.
Rep. Pressley and Sen. Smith proposed similar legislation during the 35-day shutdown of 2018-2019, where afterwards the law was passed granting Federal employees back pay for time on furlough, but efforts to extend the same benefit to contract workers failed.
