Featured October 3, 2025 Navigating the government shutdown: Essential information you need to know Back to Blog Who gets paid during a government shutdown? Date October 15, 2025 Authors Jacqueline Maffucci, Ph.D. Tags Congress, Workforce As we end week two of the government shutdown, questions are swirling about which federal workers will miss a paycheck in the coming weeks. While this might appear to be a simple question, the answer is more complex. Determining federal employee status During a government shutdown, agencies must identify staff who are exempt—not affected by a lapse in appropriations—or funded by annual appropriations and subject to furlough—sent home without pay—or “excepted”—told to work without pay. During a shutdown, agencies will continue to assess workforce needs and may change who is furloughed or excepted. While pay dates can vary across the federal government, government employees who were affected by the shutdown received a partial paycheck on Oct. 10. If the shutdown continues, they will not receive their next paycheck, scheduled for issuance on Oct. 24. Some additional complexities to consider: Agencies that had unobligated funds remaining at the end of fiscal year 2025 could carry them over to support operations during this fiscal year. However, once those funds run out, the agency needs to fully implement its shutdown contingency plans. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency and IRS relied on carryover funds at the start of this fiscal year. A partial shutdown that includes funding for certain parts of the government can mitigate workforce losses. For example, before the 2018-2019 shutdown, Congress passed five of the 12 annual appropriations bills. Agencies supported by the passed appropriations were not affected. This time around, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed in July funded certain government programs, generally within the departments of Defense and Homeland Security. Employees outside the full-time civilian workforce may also be affected Political appointees Senate-confirmed appointees and some non-Senate confirmed appointees get paid during a shutdown. Schedule C appointees are subject to furlough and do not get paid during a shutdown. Active-duty military Servicemember pay generally depends on the annual appropriations process. Without annual appropriations, servicemembers will go without pay. However, during the 2013 shutdown, Congress passed legislation to ensure the military was paid. Congress has yet to pass legislation to that effect during this shutdown, but President Donald Trump unilaterally directed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to repurpose about $8 billion in funds to pay the military on its regular pay date of Oct. 15. Shifting these funds—which Congress already approved for other purposes—may be an example of illegal executive overreach. While military pay is generally a focal issue during any shutdown, it’s important to recognize the gravity of the larger issue at hand. The Constitution grants Congress the exclusive power to authorize government funding, and the legislative branch must focus on passing appropriations on time, every year. When Congress falls short, it is not doing its job, and the entire country suffers as a result. Legislative branch employees and judges Members of Congress and federal judges continue to receive pay during a government shutdown, but their staff are subject to furlough or “excepted” status. Federal contractors The impact of a government shutdown on federal contractors varies. Many contractors implement furloughs for their own employes, while contracts at times stall because federal workers are furloughed or the work of the contract does not fall under an “excepted” category. For additional resources, visit the Partnership for Public Service’s shutdown webpage.
