As Congress struggles to pass a deal to fund the federal government, federal employment data shows that a government shutdown would impact millions of Americans around the country.
In fact, nearly every Congressional district in the U.S. has at least 1,000 federal civilian workers who would have their paycheck on pause if the government shuts down this weekend.
According to Congressional Research Service data, over 2 million American civilians work for the federal government across all 50 states and U.S. territories. Some essential employees would have to continue working without pay while others would be furloughed, meaning they would be suspended until funding could be passed.
“For example, employees whose duties involve the safety of human life or the protection of property may be told by an agency to come to work during the period in which funds are lapsed or unavailable,” CRS said.
Lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate are working to strike a deal to fund the government, but it remains unclear if they can get a spending measure passed before the shutdown deadline at midnight Saturday.
The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 ensures that employees will be retroactively paid to make up for the time when they were not receiving a paycheck. The CRS analysis does not include federal contractors or military members, which total well over another million.
“With a possible government shutdown less than a week away, defense leaders say the nation will remain protected,” the Department of Defense said in a statement. “But service members may end up doing that defense work without being paid. Elsewhere, training operations could be curtailed, which will affect long-term readiness. Efforts to support Ukraine may also be hampered.
“While commissaries will be closed on most bases in the continental U.S., defense officials said they will remain open overseas and in certain remote U.S. locations where no other sources of food are reasonably available for military personnel,” the DOD added.
President Joe Biden raised concerns about these issues on Tuesday and blasted House Republicans.
“Let me be clear: If the government shuts down, members of the U.S. military are going to have to continue to work but not get paid,” Biden said on social media.
