The government might shut down tonight, and every sector of American life could be impacted.
Later today, the Senate is set to vote again on a stopgap bill that Republicans are gunning to pass. If approved, the bill would temporarily fund the government until another funding bill is agreed upon. But, at least for now, Democratic lawmakers are standing firm in their opposition to the bill, demanding the inclusion of healthcare policies like the reversal of Medicaid cuts and the extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The regular annual appropriations bill funds most of the government, and it expires at midnight tonight. If Republicans don’t make concessions on a new bill or successfully convince Democrats to yield by then, the government will shut down. That reality is looking increasingly likely after a Monday afternoon meeting between Democratic and Republican leaders, including Trump, didn’t bear any fruit.
If the government shuts down, many departments and agencies will be without adequate funding, leading to wide-scale layoffs and disruptions to federal work.
The White House Office of Management and Budget has asked agencies to prepare to fire employees who are not considered “essential,” per The Washington Post. The looming potential layoffs would also be coming at a time when hundreds of thousands of federal employees are accepting buyouts given under Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative. In fact, so many employees are set to leave the U.S. payroll this week that the federal government is facing its largest single-year exodus of civil servants in almost 80 years, according to Reuters.
The shutdown-induced layoffs are going to be the cherry on top, especially for key industries like transportation and cybersecurity.
More pressure on air traffic
The existing appropriations bill that expires tonight only provided 17% of the funding for the Department of Transportation. If the government shuts down, most DOT programs like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration’s airport grant program will continue to be funded through the Highway Trust Fund and the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.
But the Department will lose about $25.5 billion in new appropriations, senior fellow at the ENO Center for Transportation Jeff Davis told Gizmodo, and that will be felt on the operations side of the FAA.
For the transportation sector, this can mean flight delays and cancellations. Air traffic controllers and some TSA workers will be expected to work without pay, under the “protection of life and property” exception. But anyone else is at risk of getting furloughed.
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