Fact check: Which federal programs are legally required to continue during a government shutdown 2024?

1. What the law says that forces some programs to run no matter what — simple rules, big effects

The Antideficiency Act bars federal agencies from incurring obligations or making expenditures without appropriations, but it also permits exceptions for activities that are "necessary to protect life and property" and for programs funded outside annual appropriations. That creates two hard categories: mandatory entitlement programs and national-security/public-safety operations. Mandatory programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid continue because they are not dependent on annual appropriations; courts and Treasury practice have upheld benefit payments during past shutdowns. At the same time, military personnel, air traffic controllers, and many law-enforcement and homeland-security roles continue under the life-and-property exception and because those functions are deemed essential ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

2. On-the-ground continuity: the services people actually notice that keep running

Analyses of recent shutdowns and contingency plans show common, visible continuities: military pay, Social Security and Medicare benefits, air traffic control, border protection, federal law enforcement, postal delivery, and some food and health inspections remain operational. Agencies often classify frontline roles — firefighters, certain inspectors, and emergency responders — as essential and order staff to work without immediate pay. States and localities see minimal disruption in these areas, though federal employees in essential roles are typically furloughed retroactively paid once funding resumes, a recurring political flashpoint ^{[4] [5] [3] [6]}.

3. The ambiguous middle: programs that can keep running under specific conditions

Some programs continue not because law mandates them, but because of separate funding streams, carryover balances, or statutory emergency funds that are not tied to the annual appropriations cycle. Disaster relief funds, certain vaccine and public-health commitments, and programs with multi-year appropriations or advance appropriations can keep operating during a lapse. Agencies also sometimes reallocate unobligated balances and prioritize expenditures to maintain core operations; the executive branch has limited flexibility here, and the approach varies by agency and by the specific text of underlying statutes, producing differences in which programs remain active during any given shutdown ^{[3] [7] [8]}.

4. What stops: discretionary programs and high-visibility closures

Programs that are fully funded through annual discretionary appropriations generally stop when funding lapses. That includes many administrative functions, federal grant processing, national parks, museums, and nonessential research activities. The result is closures, paused grant awards, and deferred regulatory actions. The scope of closures depends on agency contingency plans and whether particular activities have statutory carve-outs, but the pattern is consistent across analyses: discretionary, non-critical functions are the first to be suspended ^{[6] [5] [7]}.

5. Disagreements, gray areas, and political leverage: where the analyses diverge

Sources agree on broad categories but diverge on details and emphasis. Some analyses highlight strong statutory protections for entitlements and public-safety roles and downplay executive discretion, while others emphasize administrative flexibility — reprogramming funds or prioritizing operations — that can soften the impact. The October–December 2024–2025 documents show recurrent debate about the scope of executive prioritization and whether certain public-health, research, or grant programs qualify for continued operations under emergency exceptions. These differences often reflect institutional agendas: agencies emphasize operational continuity, watchdogs stress Antideficiency constraints, and political actors highlight immediate impacts to constituents ^{[3] [1]}.

6. Bottom line for policymakers and the public: predictable patterns, unpredictable edges

The consistent, evidence-based takeaway is straightforward: expect Social Security, Medicare, the military, law enforcement, air traffic control, and certain statutorily funded disaster and health programs to continue; expect discretionary, annually funded programs to pause. The key uncertainties arise from contingency funding sources, carryover balances, and executive prioritization, which produce case-by-case variation and political disputes about payments to furloughed workers or continuing specific grants. Recent summaries and contingency plans from 2024–2025 confirm this predictable core and the recurring edge cases that become the subject of legal and political contention during each shutdown cycle ^{[2] [8] [5]}.