With none of 12 annual appropriations bills signed into law and discussions of a stopgap spending bill at a stalemate, some federal offices will have closed starting Oct. 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.
Offices necessary for life safety, including grid reliability, are exempt, as are offices with an independent source of funding.
However, federal offices may be closed where public power utilities have other business, such as grants, loans, or permits.
The impasses comes as Congressional Republicans are asking for a stopgap spending bill lasting into November, APPA reported.
Democrats agree with the timing, but have said the bill also needs to extend Affordable Care Act provisions set to expire at the end of 2025.
APPA said that the negotiations have been complicated by the Administration’s aggressive stance on appropriations issues, including refusing to spend some funds appropriated by Congress for 2025.
Additionally, last week the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a memo, directing federal agencies to consider Reduction in Force (RIF) notices for all employees in programs, projects or activities (PPAs) that satisfy the following conditions: (1) discretionary funding lapses on Oct. 1, 2025; (2) another source of funding is not currently available; and (3) the PPA is not consistent with President Trump’s priorities.
It is possible the current impasse could drag out for days if not weeks.
In the past, the effect on government operations has served as an impetus to resolve differences and enact permanent or stopgap spending. However, the effect on individual offices will vary widely this year, APPA said.
For example, while most Internal Revenue Service operations have paused in past government “shutdowns”, according to this year’s Plan for Operating in the Event of a Lapse in Appropriations, funding provided under the Inflation Reduction Act will keep all 74,000 IRS employees working – at least if the shutdown is short.
Likewise, in its Plan for Operating in the Event of a Lapse in Appropriations the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has said that there would be no change to operations for a shutdown lasting up to five days.
After that, there would be no disruption until balances from prior years were exhausted. FERC did not indicate how long such funds might last but once exhausted all but 60 of its 1,418 employees would be furloughed. The remaining employees are deemed necessary for life safety, for example, to provide inspections of hydroelectric facilities, market monitoring, and monitoring of grid reliability.
Conversely, the Environmental Protection Agency said in its Contingency Plan for Shutdown that within four hours of the beginning of a shutdown, roughly all but 1,700 of its 15,166 employees would be furloughed.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Oct. 1 said it will be able to operate for a period of time during the lapse in appropriations. Until further notice, the EIA.gov website will continue to be updated, and publications will continue to be released according to established schedules.
EIA will continue collecting energy data from survey respondents as scheduled. A comprehensive list of upcoming data and report releases is available on the EIA website.
The closure of one particular government operation, the National Park Service, has been used in past budget stalemates to force parties to the table.
This year, however, according to the National Park Service’s Contingency Plan, indoor facilities will be closed, but most outdoor facilities will remain open and restrooms and trash will be maintained.
