Government Set to Furlough Almost 750,000 Employees

As the threat of government shutdown looms, the Department of Veterans Affairs says it will continue providing most services, even as nearly a quarter million federal employees throughout the government are furloughed.

In a public contingency plan, the VA estimated 97% of its employees will keep working even without government funding, allowing medical centers, benefits, crisis hotlines, suicide prevention hotlines, and more to remain operational.

The VA’s reassurance comes as other agencies say their operations will be significantly affected in the event of a government shutdown, which is set to occur at midnight Wednesday.

In a contingency plan released over the weekend, the Department of War announced it will furlough 45% of its roughly 741,500 civilian employees if the government shuts down.

Similarly, the Department of Health and Human Services said last week that it will furlough 32,460—41%—of its 79,717 employees if government funding is not approved.

And in a plan released Monday, the Department of State said it would furlough over 16,000 of its 26,995 direct-hire employees.

In all, the Congressional Budget Office estimated, 750,000 employees could be furloughed, costing $400 million in back pay per day after the end of the shutdown. Last week, the Office of Management and Budget circulated a memo telling federal agencies to consider laying off employees, which the CBO says would reduce that cost.

The government is set to shut down unless the Senate votes to approve a continuing resolution that would keep the government open by funding it at current levels for the next seven weeks. The deadline for that vote is Wednesday at midnight.

In a vote Sept. 19, the Senate shot down the continuing resolution, with all Democrats but John Fetterman, D-Penn., voting against the bill. The Senate is expected to hold another vote at 5:30 Tuesday. 

The VA reassured veterans that it “is committed to providing quality, consistent care and services to veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors… even when operations are limited by the absence of appropriations.”

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