AP reader question: Do federal workers get paid during the government shutdown

Here’s a question about the shutdown submitted by an Associated Press reader, John P.:

Who gets paid during a federal shutdown?

When it comes to federal employees, everybody is supposed to get paid eventually, but only a few get their paychecks while the government shutdown is still happening.

The president and members of Congress still get timely paychecks, since that’s set out in the U.S. Constitution. Workers whose duties are funded through sources other than congressional appropriations, like postal revenue or application fees, also get paid on time.

It’s up to each federal agency to designate which of its employees are “essential” or “excepted,” both of which mean the same thing in this case. They keep working during a shutdown, typically without getting paid until government funding is back in place.

Some examples of “essential” employees are military personnel, security screeners at airports and law enforcement officers. There can be a wide range, from positions deemed critical for public safety to those authorized by law to continue even without new funding.

Other programs that rely on mandatory spending – like Social Security and Medicare – generally continue, meaning payments still go out, and health care providers can be reimbursed for seeing covered patients.

But employees deemed by their agencies to be “non-essential” or “non-excepted” don’t stay on the job or get paid during a shutdown. Some of that work is considered to be in a more long-range category, like researchers working on future projects, or staffers who support training, grant programs or non-emergency inspections.

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