If you already have free cell phone service under the Government phone program Lifeline, then your service will not be effected. However, if you are still awaiting approval for your phone or are just starting to apply, then there will be a delay. That delay will depend on how long this government shutdown lasts. The reason for the delay is because essential government agencies that verify your eligibility for the lifeline service will be “shut down”. Offices like social security, housing and urban development offices will be shut therefore, if participation in one of these programs is how you are qualifying for the free government phone service, then you will have to wait.
Here are some other services that will be directly effected by the government shutdown:
• New patients were not accepted into clinical research at the National Institutes of Health, and hotline calls about diseases went unanswered.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ceased disease surveillance.
• Recruitment and testing of federal law-enforcement officials stopped, in one case including the hiring of 400 border patrol agents.
• National Park Service sites and national museums and monuments closed to visitors.
• Work on visa and passport services stopped.
• Inspections for food, consumer products, and workplace safety could not be carried out.
• The Internal Revenue Service was unable to verify income and Social Security numbers in 2013, producing a backlog of 1.2 million requests that may have delayed mortgage and loan approvals.
Will I stop getting my mail?
The mail will keep coming, because the U.S. Postal Service is not dependent on federal appropriations for its day-to-day operations.
What happens to the courts?
In many cases, courts have been able to shift money around to keep key operations running during previous shutdowns, though some functions — such as the handling of civil cases and building maintenance — were affected. If the shifted money eventually ran out, many court duties would be considered essential, meaning that judges and other core staffers would avoid being furloughed.
In fact, due to a constitutional prohibition against cutting judicial pay, judges and Supreme Court justices would keep collecting paychecks. Other court staff may need to wait for their paychecks until the shutdown ends, like other federal employees.
Would Social Security checks go out?
If past is prologue, then yes.
Social Security is a mandatory program supported by a trust fund, so Social Security benefits don’t have to be formally approved by Congress every year. However, the Social Security Administration employees who literally cut the checks and stuff the envelopes are paid through appropriated funds.
The question about a government shutdown is whether those employees would be kept from going to work and, if so, whether the checks would sit idle rather than arriving in mailboxes nationwide. (This is also a relevant question for other types of federal payments, such as veterans’ benefits.)
Historically, at least, shutdown regulations have been flexible enough to provide leeway for federal workers to carry out core Social Security functions, so checks have always gone out in the past. However, some activities, such as the issuance of new Social Security cards, may not continue during a shutdown.
How much does a shutdown cost?
“A shutdown is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars, disruptive of government operations, and simply bad management,” said John Palguta, a former federal human-resources official who is now an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute.
The most thorough report examining the 2013 shutdown comes from an Office of Management and Budget analysis.
• $2.5 billion in compensation costs for furloughed workers (whose lack of pay for two weeks hampered consumer spending);
• 120,000 fewer private-sector jobs created in the first half of October;
• $500 million lost in visitor spending because of closed National Parks ;
• $11 million in lost National Parks and Smithsonian Institution revenue;
• Interest accrued on billions of dollars of payments owed to third parties that the government was unable to pay during the shutdown;
• Resources spent on putting activities in standby or maintaining them in an idle mode;
• 1.2 million Internal Revenue Service identity verification requests that couldn’t be processed, causing a delay in private-sector lending and other activities;
• Stalled approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration delayed moving products to market.
Private financial analytics companies also estimated a negative effect on the economy.
Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, said the 2013 shutdown stunted fourth quarter GDP growth by 0.5 points, resulting in a $20 billion hit. Standard & Poor’s said the shutdown took $24 billion out of the economy and reduced yearly fourth quarter GDP growth by 0.6 percent. Macroeconomic Advisers estimated the shutdown cut 0.3 points off of fourth-quarter growth
All told, when Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said that “it cost us more to shut the government down than to keep it open,” we rated it True.
Are the workers who stay on the job paid?
Not immediately, at least.
Employees who are required to work are not paid until a new spending bill is passed— meaning they are effectively working for free, at least temporarily.
Furloughed workers have historically been compensated for back pay through subsequent congressional action, though there is no requirement that such a bill be passed. In 2013, the Office of Management and Budget estimated that $2.5 billion in pay and benefits was paid for hours not worked government-wide.
As the 2013 shutdown was going on, Congress and Obama agreed to a bill in the middle that paid all active-duty and many civilian Defense Department employees. This enabled Defense Department employees to return to work while the shutdown was still under way for workers in other departments.
Can furloughed employees go to work if they want?
No, furloughed employees are barred from working during a shutdown, “except to perform minimal activities as necessary to execute an orderly suspension of agency operations,” according to the Office of Personnel Management. “An agency may not accept the voluntary services of an employee.”
Federal employees theoretically could take another job during their period of furlough, but they would have to run a gauntlet of ethical approvals that makes this option unlikely. They also may qualify for unemployment insurance, though the turnaround time for receiving benefits from their jurisdiction may reduce the feasibility of this option.