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Which essential services continue to operate during the 2024 government shutdown?
Executive Summary
The core pattern across contingency plans and reporting is clear: life‑and‑property functions funded by mandatory or non‑annual appropriations continue, while discretionary programs tied to annual appropriations pause or slow. Services consistently identified as continuing include the U.S. Postal Service, Social Security and other entitlement payments, active‑duty military, federal law‑enforcement agents, air‑traffic control and certain Department of Transportation operations, and essential health services for veterans and tribal communities [1] [2]. Reporting and agency contingency documents also make clear that many regulatory, grantmaking, and public‑facing activities — from national parks to grant awards and some inspections — are suspended or curtailed, and that impacts worsen as agencies exhaust reserve funds or liquidating balances [3] [1].
1. Who absolutely keeps working: the “protect life and property” backbone
Agency contingency plans and recent reporting converge on a narrow list of functions that continue because they are excepted under the Antideficiency Act or funded outside annual appropriations. These include national defense — active‑duty personnel and the Department of Defense’s essential missions — and key law‑enforcement operations such as the FBI, Secret Service, Border Patrol, and other criminal‑investigative functions, which continue because interruptions would threaten life or public safety. Air traffic control, airport security screening, and critical energy grid or nuclear security functions also remain operational, often because those components have alternative funding streams or explicit legal exceptions. Reports underline that these workers generally must work through a lapse, sometimes without immediate pay until appropriations are restored or back pay is authorized [1] [2].
2. Payments and benefits that keep flowing: entitlements and the postal lifeline
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and many other mandatory entitlement programs continue delivering benefits because they are financed through permanent or mandatory spending authorities rather than annual appropriations. The U.S. Postal Service operates independently of annual appropriations and keeps mail service running. The Department of Veterans Affairs continues health care and benefit payments; tribal health services and certain public‑health surveillance like CDC outbreak monitoring are maintained where legally authorized. However, administrative functions that support benefits processing or customer assistance can be scaled back, causing indirect delays in service even when checks are mailed on schedule [1].
3. Transportation keeps moving, but with operational strain
Federal Aviation Administration air‑traffic control and other DOT safety functions are repeatedly listed as essential and continue to operate, supported in some cases by liquidating cash or other funding mechanisms that permit short‑term continuity. The FAA retains thousands of excepted employees to protect life and property, and the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration may operate through alternative funding. Despite this continuity, reporting shows operational strain: overtime, delayed maintenance planning, and mounting personnel costs can degrade services over time, and agencies warn that reserve balances will be exhausted if a shutdown persists [2] [1].
4. Education, grants, and regulatory work: slowdowns and suspensions
Department of Education contingency documents and wider reporting show that most discretionary grantmaking, new awards, and regulatory rulemaking stop during lapses in appropriations. Exceptions are narrow: Pell Grants and Federal Direct Student Loans funded by mandatory or carryover resources can continue, and some grant programs with advance FY‑2023 funding may run until reserves are depleted. The Department phases in employees only as exceptions apply, leading to large furloughs for non‑essential staff; this causes delays in grant competitions, monitoring, and technical assistance to states and schools. The net effect is that policy implementation and administrative support are delayed until regular funding resumes [3].
5. Public services and inspections: closures and growing indirect harms
National parks, museums, and many public‑facing services are routinely shuttered or limited during shutdowns, while consumer‑protection, workplace‑safety, and food‑safety inspections are reduced. Agencies such as the FTC and SEC often halt non‑essential enforcement or rulemaking activities, producing regulatory gaps that can ripple through markets and public health. Reporting also documents immediate human impacts: SNAP disruptions, delayed paperwork for passports or regional VA offices, and interrupted scientific work and foreign‑affairs functions create cascading social and economic costs. Agencies note that these harms escalate as contingency cash is exhausted and backlogs build [1] [4] [5].
6. The timeline and stakes: short‑term continuity vs. long‑term degradation
All sources emphasize a two‑phase story: an initial period where essential functions continue, often through alternative funding or legal exceptions, followed by a decline in capacity as agencies deplete liquidating funds, carryover balances, and emergency reserves. Short shutdowns produce concentrated inconvenience; prolonged shutdowns produce systemic disruption: frozen grant cycles, deferred inspections, strained transportation safety staffing, and greater human costs for vulnerable populations. The documented consensus is that the immediate list of operating services is narrow and stable, but the collateral damage grows quickly, underscoring why many agencies classify employees as excepted only to protect life and property while most programmatic activity pauses [1] [3] [6].