WASHINGTON — A government shutdown next week would interrupt some services and potentially jeopardize the paychecks of more than 800,000 federal workers.
The Office of Management and Budget has asked agencies to begin making contingency plans. Their first stop will be their plans from 2011. The federal government does not stop functioning completely, and by law, certain agencies must operate with unsalaried employees. They include those that deal with national security and the safety of people and property, as well as those that manage benefits such as Social Security payments.
Here’s what some agencies have said about their plans this time around.
Commerce Department
c Overall impact
Department officials would not discuss current plans for a shutdown.
c Impact on workers
A detailed plan prepared in 2011 indicated about two-thirds of the agency’s 46,000 employees would be idle.
The major exceptions: Roughly 10,000 employees at the U.S. Patent Office would continue working because the agency would be able to draw on reserves generated by the fees it collects. If the shutdown is prolonged, the patent office would have to close. Some 5,700 employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would stay on the job because their collection and dissemination of weather and other data are considered necessary “to protect life and property.”
Federal courts
c Overall impact
According to Judge John Bates, Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, courts could continue to operate for approximately two weeks with reserve funds.
c Impact on workers
After reserve funds are depleted, only essential employees would continue to work. Each court would have flexibility in determining which employees are essential, other than judges.
Defense Department
c Overall impact
The Defense Department would continue to conduct military operations and training exercises.
c Impact on workers
All 1.4 million active-duty uniformed military personnel would stay on the job. As for the roughly 800,000 civilian employees, the Pentagon has not yet determined how many would be classified as essential. The most recent time a shutdown loomed, in 2011, about half of the civilians were deemed essential. Paychecks maybe delayed.
Education Department
c Overall impact
Most public schools would not feel immediate impacts, because they have already received some of their federal funding for the school year and because they are funded mainly by state and local governments.
c Impact on workers
More than 90 percent of the approximately 4,600 full and part-time workers would probably be furloughed if department adhered to past shutdown plans.
Head Start is entirely reliant on federal dollars, and many sites would have trouble operating amid a shutdown. Funding for guaranteed student loans and Pell Grants would continue regardless of a shutdown, but payments could be delayed.
Energy Department
c Overall impact
Department officials would not discuss current shutdown plans. Most of the department’s activities would cease during the shutdown, with big exceptions for the office overseeing the safety of the nation’s nuclear arsenal and the administrators in charge of dams and transmission lines around the country.
c Impact on workers
The Department of Energy had 14,883 employees in 2011. During a shutdown, all but 895 would be sent home, according to a contingency plan the agency prepared then.
Environmental Protection Agency
c Overall impact
On Monday, Gina McCarthy, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said her department would all but close in the event of a government shutdown.
c Impact on workers
Pressed on the number of people who would be furloughed, McCarthy offered no specifics but said the “vast majority of people” would not be paid if there were no government budget.
McCarthy said the EPA would retain enough workers to “respond in the event of a significant emergency.”
The Federal Reserve
c Overall impact
The Federal Reserve is self-funded and would remain open and operational.
c Impact on workers
None.
Homeland Security Department
c Overall impact
According to 2011 contingency plans, most employees would not be impacted.
c Impact on workers
The Department of Homeland Security’s 2011 contingency plan designated about 84 percent of the agency’s roughly 230,000 employees as “essential,” meaning they would have remained on the job for the “safety of human life or protection of property.”
The Transportation Security Administration would have retained about 87 percent of its workforce under a 2011 shutdown; the Federal Emergency Management Agency 74 percent; Coast Guard and Border Protection 84 percent, U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services, 98 percent and Secret Service 89 percent.
Labor Department
c Overall impact
Department officials would not discuss plans for a shutdown.
c Impact on workers
A detailed plan prepared in 2011 indicated roughly 3,000 of the agency’s 16,116 employees would work during a shutdown. Those employees largely work in public safety and health at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Those furloughed include employees working at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Employment and Training Administration. However, Job Corps centers, which train about 60,000 disadvantaged youth across the country each year, would remain open.
Nation Institutes
of Health
c Overall impact
NIH declined to share 2013 plan details, but according to the 2011 plan the NIH Clinical Center would continue to provide direct medical services and maintain research protocols for current patients but would not admit any new patients or initiate any new clinical trials.
c Impact on workers
Under the 2011 plan, 2,564 staff NIH members would be excepted for the provision of patient care, 982 to protect property related to on-going medical experiments, 652 for maintenance of animals and protection of inanimate government property and 235 to maintain computerized systems to support research and clinical patient care.
Securities and Exchange Commission
c Overall impact
The filings the SEC receives from corporations — from financial reports to initial public offerings — will still be automatically published on the agency’s website. But the staff will not be able to review the information or provide interpretive advice.
c Impact on workers
Not available.
Smithsonian Institution
c Overall impact
All Smithsonian institutions, museums and zoos will be closed every day the shutdown is in effect.
State Department
c Overall impact
The State Department will be able to operate for a limited time.
c Impact on workers
Activities carried out by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, both domestically and abroad, are fee-funded and will continue operations. The department will continue passport operations and visa issuance overseas.
Embassies and consulates overseas will continue to provide American citizen services.
Supreme Court
c Overall impact
A government shutdown is not likely to affect the Supreme Court, at least immediately, because the court’s new term is scheduled to start Oct. 7.
c Impact on workers
Not available.
Veteran Affairs Department
c Overall impact
Medical services offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs would not be affected by a shutdown. Benefits programs would probably be affected.
c Impact on workers
A majority of the VA’s more than 300,000 employees work for the Veterans Health Administration and would be exempt from a furlough. The rest of the VA workforce faces uncertainty.
During preparations for shutdown in 2011, the department planned to furlough more than 8,300 employees.
