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UPDATE: HOUSE PASSES CONTINUING RESOLUTION TO FUND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, SENATE EXPECTED TO PASS AND PRESIDENT BIDEN EXPECTED TO SIGN BILL TO AVERT SHUTDOWN
Shutdown Resources for Federal Employees
December 20, 2024 — Currently, Congress has no bipartisan agreement to fund the federal government for the remainder of the 2025 fiscal year (FY25, which runs through September 2025). Without a CR that has bipartisan support, the House of Representatives will not have the votes to pass a CR. Instead of returning to a bipartisan approach, House Republican leadership listened to the incoming administration, which begins on January 20, and went down a road that shuts the government down.
On Tuesday, December 17, House and Senate and Appropriations leadership on both sides of the aisle unveiled a bipartisan three-month continuing resolution (CR) legislative package that also included several bipartisan bills and provisions to extend the authorization of Medicare improvements and health care policies, cancer research programs, provide disaster relief to states hit by hurricanes and natural disasters, health care for 9/11 first responders, regulate “outbound” U.S. investments in foreign manufacturing and technology that hurts national security, reign in pharmacy benefit managers (PMB) reforms to limit prescription drug price inflation, extend farm aid reauthorization and add a farm stimulus, a bipartisan workforce development reauthorization, and other provisions.
That bipartisan CR was rejected by House Republican leadership after the incoming administration’s billionaire advisors intervened and directed Republican Members of the House to kill the bill. Again, the bipartisan CR was agreed to by Republican and Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, only to be scuttled by the incoming administration’s advisors.
On Thursday, December 19, House Speaker Mike Johnson (D-LA) introduced a new CR that was crafted without any bipartisan input but is endorsed by President-elect Trump. This bill included a debt ceiling increase alongside a three-month funding bill. The debt ceiling increase is a priority for the incoming Trump Administration because it will facilitate their proposal for massive tax cuts for the ultrawealthy that will make the debt skyrocket and may require cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal funding working Americans count on. That second CR bill was voted on on the House floor on Thursday evening under suspended rules, which requires a 2/3 majority vote to pass. The vote fell far short of what was needed, with 174 votes for and 235 votes against passage.
On Friday, December 20, after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) met to outline a CR that would have the bipartisan support needed to pass in the House. As a result of those conversations, a CR without the debt ceiling increase was introduced in the House and passed with bipartisan support, 366 yeas to 34 nays. The CR will be taken up in the Senate and is expected to pass this evening, in time to avert a government shutdown.
We are advising all IFPTE-represented federal employees to prepare for a government shutdown. The federal government is currently funding and operating on a continuing resolution (or CR) that ends on December 21 at 12:01 AM EDT.
If there is a shutdown, here’s what it means for federal employees:
Unless directed otherwise, federal employees will report to work as scheduled. Employees may be assigned work necessary to conduct an orderly shutdown of their agency. Employees will also be informed if they are furloughed (assigned a leave of absence from work), or if they are “excepted” from furlough and ordered to report to work during the shutdown.
Both furloughed and excepted federal employees will not be paid during the shutdown. Federal employees will be paid as soon as possible once government funding is restored and the shutdown ends, per the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (GEFTA).
While federal agencies cannot incur expenses without prior approval of funding (or “appropriations”) from Congress, the federal government does have a legal right to maintain emergency operations to meet its obligations to the safety of life and the protection of property. To meet those obligations, agencies will designate some federal employees as exempted from furlough.
Each agency has issued a contingency plan or will issue an updated plan that indicates which federal employees are expected to be furloughed during the length of the shutdown, with the remainder reporting to work. See your agency’s shutdown contingency plan here.
Employees who are furloughed at the start of the shutdown may be recalled to work under excepted status at any point during the shutdown. Conversely, excepted employees may be moved to furlough status during the shutdown if an agency deems it appropriate.
Employees whose activities are funded by non-appropriated funds – i.e. mandatory spending, activities funded by user fees, or operations paid through trust funds – may be “exempt” from the furlough and work through the lapse in appropriations.
OPM Guidance for Shutdown Furloughs (Updated December 2021; Appended with January 29 2024 Addendum):
Addendum to OPM Guidance for Shutdown Furloughs [PDF] adds and supersedes some of the December 2021 guidance.
To fully understand OPM’s guidance, you should consult both documents as the January 29, 2024 Addendum adds new information and supersedes the December 2021 guidance. With the two documents read together, the OPM Guidance has been updated to include the statutory requirements of the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (GEFTA) which, among other provisions, requires all federal employees to be paid after a shutdown ends and government funding is restored.
Some pertinent information addressed in this guidance includes:
General guidelines for excepted employees (Section A, starting on page 1 of OPM Guidance)
How excepted employees with previously approved leave can maintain their requested time off (Section F, starting on page 10 of OPM Guidance and page 3 of Addendum to OPM Guidance)
Employees taking second jobs during the shutdown and ethics considerations (Section C, question 3, on page 4 of OPM Guidance)
Access to federal employee benefits and impacts to benefits (Section H, starting on page 21 of OPM Guidance)
Impact on retirement (Section L, starting on page 27 of OPM Guidance)
Agencies’ obligation to bargain with unions (Section Q, question 2, on page 37 of OPM Guidance)
Sample of agency notices of furlough due to the lapse in appropriations (starting on page 9 of Addendum to OPM Guidance)
Agency Contingency Plans:
Government Operations and Obligations Principles During Shutdown – OMB Frequently Asked Questions During a Lapse in Appropriations (Updated September 27, 2023):
The following topics are covered in this 17-page document:
Basic Principles of Agency Operations during a Lapse in Appropriations
Contracts and Grants
Information Technology
Orderly Shutdown
Travel
Entitlement to Payment for Excepted Work
Carryover Funds
Use of Charge Cards
Federal Household Shutdown Checklist
Furloughed Employees Can File for Unemployment Insurance:
Federal employees who are furloughed and not reporting to work during the shutdown are eligible for state unemployment insurance (UI). Once the shutdown ends, UI benefits will be considered “overpayment” and will have to be paid back.
For more information on how to file for your state UI, see the Department of Labor’s website for federal employees.
Check Your Finances:
Call your landlord, bank, credit union, mortgage lender, or other loan provider to let them know you are a furloughed federal worker and ask if you can delay payments until the government is funded again.
Your credit union or bank may offer a short-term low-interest loan for federal employees.
Log onto your credit card and bank accounts to check for recurring expenses, such as online subscription services or memberships, and put them on pause.
Check your local government to see if they are offering free services, such as memberships to recreation facilities, to federal workers and their families.
Mind Your Wellness:
Call 211 or log onto 211.org for mental health and other services that you and your loved ones may need during the shutdown.
Make a list of places you’ve been meaning to visit or friends you’ve been meaning to see, and schedule at least one activity a day.
Keep in touch with your co-workers and make sure you have contact information for your steward or local union leaders.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Tell Congress to pass a bipartisan Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government and prevent a shutdown. A government funding bill that is agreed by Republican and Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate is the only way to make sure there are enough votes in the House of Representatives to advance the bill, pass it in the Senate, and stop the shutdown:
Call Speaker Mike Johnson at 202-225-4000 and tell him to stop playing politics with federal workers and their families, and to go back to a bipartisan approach to passing government funding.
Write a letter-to-the-editor to a newspaper or local online outlet such as patch.com and share your story with the public.
TAKE ACTION NOW! [Email Campaign Inactive — House Has Passed CR]
Stop The Shutdown - Listen To Working People, Not Billionaires
Tell Congress to pass a 2024 funding bill that has bipartisan support, like the first CR that was in time to avoid a partial government shutdown. Remind them that Congress and President Biden have already agreed to FY24 spending levels in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.
Email your Congressional Representative - tell them to “Stop The Shutdown - Listen To Working People, Not Billionaires”
Call House Speaker Mike Johnson at 202-225-4000 and put forward a continuing resolution that has the bipartisan support of Congressional leadership.
Write a letter-to-the-editor to a newspaper or local online outlet such as patch.com and share your story with the public.
Sign Up Here to Receive Shutdown Messages
If the shutdown occurs, IFPTE will keep members updated through our messaging tool, Action Network.
Members are highly encouraged to send IFPTE their personal email address to receive updated messages, alerts, and any other pertinent shutdown information. This is also necessary if you are currently receiving IFPTE messages and alerts through your work email address.