How a Government Shutdown will Impact Military Families: If Congress does not pass a spending package for the 2025 fiscal year by December 20th, the government will “shut down." A shutdown means that all federal agencies must stop functions that are deemed “nonessential” until money is appropriated for the next fiscal year. A partial government shutdown this weekend could delay servicemembers' paychecks at the start of the new year. A shutdown would also impact 700,000-plus Defense Department civilian employees, roughly half are considered “essential” employees who would remain on the job without pay. As of 2023, the federal government employed over 16,000 military, veteran, and surviving spouses.

Ahead of the holiday, this shutdown will also cause serious delays in onboarding, disruptions in critical roles, and challenges in filling positions for the Department of Homeland Security. The onboarding process, which has already begun for new hires, would be paused until the government reopens. This is particularly problematic ahead of the holiday travel season, where more TSA Officers will be needed to screen travelers.

The 2025 budget also includes vital resources to families who have gone through natural disasters, including the many military families who lived through hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and other natural disasters this year. FEMA would be forced to continue delaying support for community recovery to preserve resources for immediate life and safety concerns deployed in the wake of a catastrophic event, such as a nuclear threat, and will shift disaster response burdens to the States, territories, Tribes, and local communities.

During a government shutdown, missions deemed essential to national security keep running, but our Armed Forces will not get paid unless Congress passes emergency legislation to allow paychecks to continue. A shutdown will also impact the over 19,000 border patrol agents and 25,000 officers in the Office of Field Operations and their families who are currently securing US borders. In 2019, military (except the Coast Guard) were paid because Congress passed a Pentagon spending bill. Coast Guard funding falls under the Department of Homeland Security, therefore service members were not paid until the 34-day shutdown ended.

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