President Donald Trump is no stranger to federal government shutdowns, having presided over a record-long impasse in his first term.
But with another shutdown looming in a week, the Trump administration has yet to make public federal agencies’ contingency plans for how they’ll handle the shuttering of operations until Congress approves their funding for the coming fiscal year. It follows the president’s overhauling of the size and scope of the federal government upon returning to office.
The plans, which are traditionally posted on the White House Office of Management and Budget’s website, lay out what federal services will continue to be provided and which workers must remain on the job, often without pay. It can be crucial information for residents, businesses, contractors and others who engage with the federal government.
The plans also reflect what federal activities each administration deems critical to the protection of life and property, which can include emergency response or national security efforts, said Rachel Snyderman, managing director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The OMB’s site had the agencies’ plans posted in mid-March, when the US last faced a potential shutdown, according to the Wayback Machine, an internet archive. But as of publication Tuesday morning, it was blank.
Neither the White House nor the OMB responded to CNN’s request for comment.
Some departments, such as the Social Security Administration and Environmental Protection Agency, have posted their plans on their websites, while others say the plans are in the process of being updated. CNN reached out to more than a dozen major agencies, but only a handful responded.
“We’re just in this holding pattern for guidance and next steps,” said Snyderman, a former career staffer at OMB.
Tuesday officially marks one week before the government funding deadline, setting in motion the standard procedure laying out the steps toward bringing non-essential government functions to a halt.
“One week prior to the expiration of appropriations bills, regardless of whether the enactment of appropriations appears imminent, OMB will communicate with agency senior officials to remind agencies of their responsibilities to review and update orderly shutdown plans, and will share a draft communication template to notify employees of the status of appropriations,” reads a budget document from the OMB.
The lack of publicly available plans is “troubling,” said Michael Linden, a former senior OMB official during the Biden administration. The contingency preparations can be relatively cut and dry for many agencies, who have gone through this exercise multiple times in recent years.
“There’s only so much wiggle room, in theory,” said Linden, now a senior policy fellow at the left-leaning Washington Center for Equitable Growth. “There is some room for interpretation, but not that much, or shouldn’t be.”
The plans also provide a mechanism for accountability and oversight, said Linden.
One thing that has changed this year is the Trump administration’s massive reorganization of federal agencies. About 200,000 federal workers have left the government, and many departments have restructured their operations, eliminating certain offices and functions.
Many of them are experienced federal workers who know how to navigate the shutdown process, said Max Stier, CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan group that focuses on improving the federal government.
“That’s going to create a whole other layer of extra difficulty,” he said. “Even if you have the plans there, do you have the people to implement the plans effectively? There’s going to be very large gaps across the government because of the haphazard and large-scale firings that have taken place.”
Also, Stier noted, an administration has latitude to determine what government functions should continue during a shutdown, which could further empower Trump to dismantle – at least temporarily – elements that he doesn’t like.
Since Congress has not yet approved appropriations for any federal departments, all would be affected.
Every agency has its own set of plans and procedures for a shutdown. The plans include how many employees would be furloughed and how many would work without pay, how long it would take to wind down operations in the hours before a shutdown and which activities would come to a halt. Those plans can vary from shutdown to shutdown.
(Federal workers are guaranteed to receive back pay once Congress approves a funding package.)
Previous shutdowns have closed national parks and museums, stalled food inspections, canceled immigration hearings and delayed some federal lending to homebuyers and small businesses, among other impacts. Though air traffic controllers have to remain on the job, many called in sick during the most recent shutdown in the first Trump administration, snarling flights.
Some essential government functions continue even if agencies shut down. Notably, Social Security recipients will receive their monthly payments, and Medicare and Medicaid benefits will continue.
The Social Security Administration pointed to a contingency plan from last September that showed only 8,100 of its roughly 59,000 employees at that time would be furloughed if the government shut down. The plan noted that people would still be able to apply for benefits, request appeals and change their addresses, among other services, but they would not be able to correct their earnings records or get replacement Medicare cards.
The Justice Department said its fiscal year 2026 contingency plan is currently under review, while the US Department of Agriculture said it is “prepared for all contingencies regarding Department operations, including critical services and supports.”
During Trump’s first term, a 35-day impasse shuttered part of the government just before Christmas in 2018. It ended in late January 2019, when Trump agreed to a temporary funding measure that did not include billions of dollars for a border wall.
However, the shutdown wreaked havoc on the lives of many Americans and federal employees, including causing flight delays, canceling immigration hearings and making it harder for some families to obtain student loans.
