Federal government shutdown is looming as funding is set to run out at the end of September, as a stopgap bill has passed in the House but failed in the Senate.
Last week, the House passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government at current levels through Nov. 21. But Democrats in the Senate are blocking passage of the bill with specific partisan demands on the table.
During a shutdown, neither furloughed federal workers nor those deemed essential and forced to work during a shutdown will be paid, though federal employees will automatically be granted back pay once funding resumes.
The downside to the shutdown, was the announcement by Office of Management and Budget OMB) Director Russ Vought Hill who said , according to a Trump memo, the administration plans to initiate a the Reduction-in Force (RIF) plans that would go beyond the standard shutdown furloughs which translates into mass firings, specifically targeting employees who work for programs that are not legally required to continue.
Any new layoffs would add to the roughly 300,000 fewer federal workers expected by the end of December.
RIF notices would be in addition to any furlough notices provided due to the lapse in appropriation regardless of whether they are working on the relevant PPA, excepted or furloughed, and once the 2026 appropriations are enacted, agencies should revise their RIFs as needed to retain the minimal number of employees.
According to the memo, any proposed RIF plan should have been submitted to the OMB by Aug. 1 and should not “repurpose balances or assume use of transfer authorities.”
Programs that will continue regardless of a shutdown include Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits, military operations, law enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and air traffic control, according to an OMB official. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — during the last shutdown standoff in March - allowed the GOP-written spending bill to pass, arguing a shutdown would be a gift to the Trump administration and allow his deputies to “o destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now.”
Schumer has since revised that view, saying this month that the administration’s attacks on federal agencies “will get worse with or without [a shutdown], because Trump is lawless.”