R Street Institute

Real Solutions

What happens when the government shuts down…

Oct 1, 2013
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issues: Governance
There’s a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth about the government shutdown that started today. Democrats in both chambers of Congress have been complaining about how it will slow down basic services and hurt Americans. But there are a lot of misconceptions about what services and programs are affected.

Reason magazine put together the video below back in 2011 listing the departments, agencies and programs that will continue running during a government shutdown. Medicare will continue running and Social Security checks will still go out. The IRS will, unfortunately, continue to operate. The U.S. Postal Service and the TSA will also work through a shutdown.

Non-essential government workers will be furloughed, though it’s likely that they’ll get paid when an agreement is reached on spending. President Barack Obama and Congress will, unfortunately, continue to receive their paychecks during a shutdown.

Check out the video from Reason:

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