House votes to avoid federal government shutdown just before deadline. Bill heads to Senate
The federal government could shut down at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, but few Californians are likely to notice any impact, at least at first.
Social Security benefits will still be paid. Federal security agents and air traffic controllers at airports will still be working. The military will remain on duty.
The effects will be felt if the shutdown lingers. Those employees will not be paid on time, though they will get paid retroactively. Offices with workers considered “non-essential” won’t open Monday morning. National parks will be shuttered.
But 147,487 federal employees in California regarded as “non-essential” would be furloughed, meaning they probably wouldn’t be working until the Washington impasse ends. That includes all employees working for both cabinet-level departments and federal agencies of all sizes, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management.
The government essentially runs out of money Saturday unless Congress and the White House agree on a spending plan. The House passed a deal late Friday, and heads to the Senate for approval.
Lawmakers reached a bipartisan agreement earlier this week, only to see it blown up when President-elect Donald Trump—with a social media boost from billionaire friend Elon Musk—objected. House Republicans backed off the plan, and offered a slimmed-down budget Thursday that included Trump’s eagerness to see the debt ceiling raised..
That plan failed as 38 Republicans joined 197 Democrats in opposition. Friday, House leaders scrambled to produce an alternative that could not only pass the House, where Republicans have only a eight seat majority, but the Senate, which is still controlled by Democrats.
The House GOP tried again late Friday to vote on that plan, which now doesn’t include the debt ceiling. The measure included $100 billion in disaster aid, mostly for Southern states hit by this year’s hurricanes. It also extended current agriculture policy for a year and provided $10 billion to farmers. The plan passed the House 366-34, despite Democrats railing against Republicans for reneging on the earlier deal. The Senate is now set to vote on it.
If the government shuts down, it wouldn’t be the first holiday stalemate.
In 2018-2019, the government shutdown for 34 days in December and January, the record for such a lapse, and in 1995, a holiday closing lasted 21 days.
Former U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., was one of 18 senators who voted against the January 2018 deal to reopen the federal government because it did not include details about programs that would reauthorize the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Furloughed federal workers protested at the Sacramento airport in January 2019 after missing paychecks during what became the longest shutdown in government history. Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared in support, and later criticized the federal Department of Labor for refusing to grant furloughed unpaid workers with unemployment benefits.
The White House has a thick set of briefing materials on how agencies should proceed.
Here are some of the potential effects:
▪ Social Security. About 6.3 million Californians receive benefits, and will continue to do so on time.
In addition, people can continue to apply for benefits and deal with other administrative issues, such as appealing decisions and changing their address and direct deposit information.
“We will continue activities critical to our direct-service operations and those needed to ensure accurate and timely payment of benefits,” the agency’s contingency plan says. But it also warned, “We will cease activities not directly related to the accurate and timely payment of benefits or not critical to our direct-service operations.”
A state Employment Development Department spokesperson said via email the agency did not anticipate any interruption to unemployment benefits during a shutdown.
▪ Medicare. Medicare will continue to pay medical benefits, but if the shutdown lingers, those payments could be less prompt.
Medicaid, the joint state-federal health care program for lower income people and some others, should have enough federal funds to continue for a while.
Anthony Cava, a state Department of Health Care Services spokesperson, said both Medicaid and Medi-Cal services would continue “without significant interruption.”
▪ Airports. About 59,000 of the Transportation Security Agency’s 62,000 employees “are considered essential and would continue working without pay in the event of a shutdown,” David Pekoske, TSA administrator, said on X.
But, he warned, “While our personnel are prepared to handle high volumes of travelers and ensure safe travel, please be aware that an extended shutdown could mean longer wait times at airports.’
▪ Military and border security. The Pentagon said in a statement “the department will continue to defend the nation and conduct ongoing military operations.”
It also said it would continue “activities such as those necessary for the safety of human life and the protection of property.”
The Department of Homeland Security said in its shutdown plan that activity affecting law enforcement and maritime security would continue.
▪ National parks. “In general, National Park Service sites will be closed during the period of a lapse in appropriations. This means that the majority of National Park sites will be closed completely to public access,” says the park service’s contingency plan.
Areas that are “physically accessible” to visitors will see what the park service called “significantly reduced visitor services.”
It is encouraging people not to visit the parks during the shutdown.
▪ Taxes. If the shutdown continues past January 1, and into the 2025 tax filing season, the Internal Revenue Service says 44.5% of its total workforce would keep actively working.
“The IRS will continue return processing activities to the extent necessary to protect government property, to include tax revenue (and) maintain the integrity of the federal tax collection process,” the agency says.
▪ Agriculture. “Most USDA employees will be placed on furlough because their position is not designated as “excepted” or “exempt”,” according to the Department of Agriculture shutdown plan.
That department would stop processing housing loans, which provide $410 million in annual rural home loans to help 1,500 families buy homes statewide, according to a fact sheet from Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s office.
California farmers would also lose access to $77 million in federal farm loans, and 5.2 million federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program beneficiaries statewide would lose access to those benefits.
In the past, USDA emergency projects have remained in operation, according to Steve Lyle, a spokesperson for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
“We are optimistic that would be the case once again,” Lyle said in an email.
This story was originally published December 20, 2024 at 9:38 AM.
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