Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
Here's what would happen if Trump's border wall demands force a government shutdown
Here's what would happen if Trump's border wall demands force a government shutdown
Bob BryanDec 21, 2018, 23:00 IST
The US Capitol during the 2013 government shutdown.Jewel Samad/Getty Images
Advertisement
President Donald Trump's demands for US-Mexico border wall funding have pushed the US federal government to the brink of a government shutdown at midnight.
If the shutdown does occur, significant portions of the federal government would close temporarily.
About 800,000 federal employees would be affected, with 420,000 essential employees forced to work without pay and 380,000 employees placed on furlough.
After more than a year of threats, President Donald Trump appears ready to stand firm and force a government shutdown to try to secure funding for his long-promised wall along the US-Mexico border.
Congress is facing a midnight deadline Friday to pass a funding bill and avoid a partial federal government shutdown, leaving little time for lawmakers to resolve differences over Trump's demands for $5 billion toward a border wall.
Initially, the plan was to pass a short-term continuing resolution, or CR, that simply funded the government at current levels through February 8. While that bill passed the Senate on Wednesday, Trump rejected it after pushback from conservative pundits and members of the hardline House Freedom Caucus.
That still leaves many agencies in danger of shutting down. The list of departments in danger of closing includes: agriculture, commerce, justice, homeland security, the interior, state, transportation, and housing and urban development.
How will government employees be affected?
According to a research memo prepared by congressional Democrats, roughly 800,000 federal employees would be affected by the shutdown.
About 420,000 workers would be deemed essential and would work without pay throughout the duration of a shutdown, while the other 380,000 workers would be put on furlough.
On the other end, only 14% of homeland security employees would be furloughed. Many of those employees deemed "essential" would be Border Patrol and ICE agents who are charged with protecting the US border. This would mean that those agents would work without pay until the shutdown ends.
While federal employees are not automatically repaid for missed wages, Congress typically passes legislation to give those workers back pay.
Lawmakers would still receive paychecks during a shutdown.
While there are notable exceptions, most of these shutdowns have been short-lived. For instance, none of the eight shutdowns during Ronald Reagan's presidency in the 1980s lasted more than three days.
The longest shutdowns include a 21-day shutdown from December 1995 to January 1996 and an 18-day shutdown from September to October 2013.
One thing that is unique to the two lapses in 2018 is the one-party control of Congress and the White House.
The three day shutdown in January marked the first time that the government shut down under one-party control since the 1979 shutdown under President Jimmy Carter. It was also the first shutdown under one-party control that resulted in a furlough of federal employees.
If a shutdown occurs at midnight, this would also be the first time since 1979 when three funding lapses occurred in one calendar year.
