A sign on the entrance to the U.S. National Arboretum says it is closed due to the federal government shut down on Oct.  1, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The first federal government shutdown in seven years has left hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed and members of the public struggling to understand what’s open, what’s closed and what might be delayed.

States Newsroom’s Washington, D.C. Bureau scoured agency plans published by the Trump administration and the courts, and produced this guide to help you understand what’s going on:

Agriculture Department 

The USDA plans to furlough about half, 42,300, of its nearly 86,000 employees, though workers at several programs for farm communities and rural areas will keep working without pay.

Operations will continue on some farm loans, certain natural resource and conservation programs, essential food safety operations related to public health and wildland firefighting activities. 

Agriculture Department employees working on animal and plant health emergency programs — including African swine fever, highly pathogenic avian influenza, exotic fruit flies, new world screwworm and rabies — are exempt from furloughs.  

But dozens of USDA programs addressing everything from disaster assistance processing to trade negotiations to long-term research on animal diseases will cease until Congress reaches a funding deal. 

Employees working on those programs will be furloughed until the government is once again funded, but both working and non-working federal employees in all agencies are required to receive back pay under the law. 

Agencies housed within the USDA have varying levels of furloughs. The Food and Nutrition Service, Office of the Inspector General and Natural Resources Conservation Service are among those with higher numbers of furloughed workers.

Commerce Department

The Department of Commerce will retain just over 19% of its nearly 43,000 employees during the shutdown, and most will have to stay on without pay, as outlined in its government funding lapse plan. 

The department oversees a wide range of federal government activities — weather forecasting, issuing patents and trademarks, regulating fisheries, enforcing export laws, managing government-owned and -controlled spectrum frequencies, and collecting demographics and other population data.

Notably, the department houses the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and will continue providing “weather, water and climate observations, prediction, forecasting, warning and related support.” But research activities will largely stop.

The U.S. Census Bureau, also part of the department, will cease most operations, including providing monthly economic indicators and updated data about disaster-impacted areas. Certain preparations for the 2030 Census will stop, as will any data collection for the American Community Survey.

Funding outside of annual appropriations may keep some U.S. Patent and Trademark Office units open, but the timelines will be variable, according to the department. When funding runs out, the office will continue “a bare minimum set of activities necessary to protect against the actual loss of intellectual property (IP) rights.”

Defense Department 

The Defense Department’s contingency plan calls for the nearly 2.1 million military personnel to keep working as normal and says 406,500 of its roughly 741,000 civilian employees will work without pay, while the others will be furloughed.  

The plan says the Defense Department believes operations to secure the U.S. southern border, Middle East operations, Golden Dome for America defense system, depot maintenance, shipbuilding and critical munitions are the “highest priorities” in the event of a shutdown. 

Medical and dental services, including private sector care under the TRICARE health care program, would largely continue at the Defense Department, though “(e)lective surgery and other routine/elective procedures in DoW medical and dental facilities are generally not excepted activities, unless the deferral or delay of such procedures would impact personnel readiness or deployability.”

Education Department 

The Department of Education said it would furlough roughly 95% of employees outside its federal student aid unit. 

The agency will continue disbursing Federal Direct Loans as well as Pell Grants, which help low-income students pay for college. 

Borrowers still have to make payments toward their student loan debt during the shutdown. 

Title I and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, grant funding would continue to be available as usual, according to the department. Title I provides funding for low-income school districts, while IDEA guarantees a free public education for students with disabilities. 

But the agency is ceasing several operations, including any new grantmaking activities. Still, the department said the majority of its grant programs “typically make awards over the summer and therefore there would be limited impact on the Department’s grantmaking.”

The agency’s Office for Civil Rights also has to pause investigations of any civil rights complaints. 

Energy Department 

The Energy Department will furlough a little over 8,100 of its 13,800 federal workers – nearly 60% of its workforce, according to its contingency plan. 

The National Nuclear Security Administration would continue maintenance and safeguarding of nuclear weapons. 

Some programs, like the medical isotope program, will require DOE to “produce additional isotopes in order to protect human life.” 

“The need to do this will depend on the length of the lapse and the stockpile of individual isotopes,” according to DOE. 

Certain programs are self-funded, such as the Bonneville Power Administration, which provides hydropower in the Columbia River Basin of the Pacific Northwest.

Environmental Protection Agency 

EPA, according to its contingency plan, will have the biggest percentage of federal employees furloughed. Nearly 90% of its workforce, or 13,400 out of 15,000, will be furloughed. 

Only agency activities that revolve around protecting human life, such as monitoring some Superfund sites and responding to emergency environmental disasters, will continue. 

Some EPA functions that will halt include issuing of new grants, publishing new research, pausing of cleanup of Superfund sites that don’t pose an imminent threat to human life, enforcement inspections and issuing of permits.

Health and Human Services Department 

The department, one of the larger ones within the executive branch that houses many of the country’s best-known public health agencies, has furloughed about 32,500 of its nearly 80,000 employees, according to its contingency plan.

Many of HHS’ activities fall under the life and property or even the national security exceptions during a funding lapse, though dozens of programs will still be affected.

HHS officials plan to ensure “minimal readiness” at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response for “all hazards, including pandemic flu and hurricane responses.”

Certain employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will keep working, albeit without pay, to monitor for any disease outbreaks. But the contingency plan says the CDC’s “communication to the American public about health-related information will be hampered.”

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to keep 3,300, or about 53%, of its employees during the shutdown in order to keep running core programs.

Since many of the country’s major health care programs are funded outside of the annual government funding process, they shouldn’t be affected by the shutdown, even though the employees who run the programs often rely on full-year or stopgap spending bills for their salaries.

CMS’ contingency plan says “the Medicare Program will continue during a lapse in appropriations” and that it has “sufficient funding for Medicaid to fund the first quarter of FY 2026,” which includes October, November and December.  

Additionally, it “will maintain the staff necessary to make payments to eligible states for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).”

Department of Housing and Urban Development 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s website opens with a message that reads: “The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.”

The department says the majority of its annual grant programs, including those that provide for emergency housing for people experiencing homelessness and people living with HIV/AIDS, “continue to operate in States and local communities across the country when such grant funding has already been obligated.” 

The agency also said many of its programs “addressing imminent threats to the health and welfare of HUD tenants and children will continue where such grant funding has already been obligated before the lapse occurs.”  

For as long as the funding remains available, “monthly subsidy programs such as the public housing operating subsidies, housing choice voucher subsidies, and multifamily assistance contracts will continue to operate,” according to the department.  

However, the agency said nearly all of its “fair housing activities” will halt during the shutdown. 

Internal Revenue Service 

The Internal Revenue Service will continue normal operations using supplemental funding enacted under the Democrats’ 2022 budget reconciliation law, known as the Inflation Reduction Act.

The IRS will retain its 74,299 employees, according to the latest available shutdown contingency plan. 

The Trump administration has shrunk the IRS significantly this year, down from its roughly 95,000 employees, and has turned over the agency’s top leadership six times.

The agency processes about 180 million income tax returns each year.

The body that independently oversees the IRS will not operate at full capacity during the shutdown. Only 40% of employees in the department’s Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration will remain on, with a small fraction required to stay without pay if necessary, according to the agency’s plan.

As of Thursday afternoon Eastern time, the home page for that agency, tigta.gov, was blank except for the message “Due to a lack of apportionment of funds, this website is currently unavailable.”

Interior Department

A little more than half of the federal workforce for the Interior Department will be furloughed – 31,000 out of 58,600 employees – according to its contingency plan.

Some services within the agency will continue, such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ wildland fire management, but programs that provide social services to foster children and residential adults will pause.

As for national parks, the trails, open memorials and overlooks will generally remain open. The National Park Service will retain minimal staff to allow for visitors. But general maintenance, trash pick-up and educational programs, will cease during the shutdown. 

Hunters or people seeking access to public lands will not be able to have their permits processed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. 

Justice Department

The Justice Department will keep a majority of its federal workers during the shutdown, according to its contingency plan. Out of roughly 110,000 employees, nearly 13,000 will be furloughed. 

Because the judicial branch will continue to function, the Justice Department will retain most of its attorneys for criminal and civil litigation. Federal law enforcement agencies and their agents will continue to work, such as the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

A shutdown typically means that immigration cases would be rescheduled and courts not located in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center will be shut down. But the Trump administration has prioritized the Executive Office for Immigration Review, housed within the Department of Justice, as essential. 

The contingency plan points to the president’s national emergency, “citing the threat to the national security and economy of the United States caused by illegal migration.”

Labor Department 

More than 75% of the Department of Labor’s employees will be furloughed, according to the agency’s contingency plan. 

Several units will come to a halt, such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Office of Disability Employment Policy, Women’s Bureau, Office of Administrative Law Judges, Administrative Review Board, and Benefits Review Board, as well as the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board.

The agency said it will continue to support states and other agencies when it comes to administering and paying unemployment insurance benefits. 

The department notes that “unless excepted or exempt, agencies’ technical assistance, compliance assistance, regulatory, policy, research, advisories, responding to inquiries, most oversight, hearing preparation, and cooperative activities will cease.”

Job Corps centers that house students “will remain in operation while funds remain available,” and “federal oversight of those centers related to safety and property will continue,” per the department. 

Homeland Security Department 

Homeland Security will retain most of its workforce without pay. About 14,000 employees will be furloughed among its nearly 272,000 workforce, according to its contingency plan. 

That means ports of entry will remain open for inspections from Customs and Border Protection, but there could be delays in paperwork at U.S. borders. 

Most federal workers responsible for security at airports across the country – more than 61,000 Transportation Security Administration employees – would be required to work without pay. 

Another agency within DHS that will remain most of its workforce is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. About 21,000 employees out of 24,000 will continue to work. 

The office involved in departmental oversight, the Office of Inspector General, will pause its work on reports and investigations. 

And the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown will continue, with nearly all employees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement considered non-exempt, about 19,600 out of 21,000.

Several agencies within the Department of Homeland Security will remain running because they are fee-based, such as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Some visa programs within USCIS are tied to appropriations funding, so those programs will be suspended. 

That includes E-Verify, which verifies immigration status; visas for foreign doctors; and visas for non-minister religious workers. 

State Department 

A little more than half the employees in the State Department will be furloughed, about 16,600 out of its nearly 27,000-employee workforce, according to its contingency plan.

Because visa and passport services are fee-funded, they will likely not be impacted. Consular operations will be affected and diplomatic visas will only be issued in “life or death” emergencies.

Social Security Administration 

The program for America’s seniors and some people with disabilities is largely funded outside of the annual government spending process, which makes it mostly exempt from shutdowns. 

One big caveat is that the federal workers who administer the program are paid through one of the 12 congressional appropriations bills, which can cause issues during a funding lapse. 

SSA’s contingency plan says it will furlough about 6,200 of its nearly 52,000 employees until the government is fully operational again. 

The agency plans to continue “accurate and timely payment of benefits” as well as taking applications, requests for appeal, issuing and replacing Social Security cards and fraud prevention activities, among others. 

The SSA during the lapse will not conduct certain activities, including benefits verification, replacement of Medicare cards, or addressing overpayments processing during the funding lapse. 

Transportation Department

Slightly more than 11,000 of the department’s nearly 45,000 employees will be furloughed for the remainder of the government shutdown, but its leaders plan to keep several activities essential for the traveling public going during a shutdown, according to its contingency plan.

Air traffic control services and hiring, hazardous materials safety inspections, airport inspections and much more will continue, though many activities will cease. 

Some agencies within the Transportation Department will see little impact on their staffing, even though workers will not be paid until the shutdown ends. 

For example, no one at the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, or the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation will be furloughed. 

Treasury Department 

The department has individual contingency plans for its various components, including departmental offices, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Internal Revenue Service, the Office of the Inspector General and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Treasury officials expect to keep about 1,850 of its more than 2,700 employees working in the departmental offices without pay during the shutdown, in part to “support the president” with “market and economic updates, economic policy options and recommendations, including those related to national security incidents.”

The Office of Inspector General, which oversees officials’ actions for waste, fraud and abuse, will keep about 30 of its roughly 150 employees working throughout the shutdown and furlough the rest. 

Department of Veterans Affairs

Large parts of the Department of Veterans Affairs, including the processing and payout of benefits, are funded outside of the annual appropriations process and will continue through the shutdown.

The department projects 97% of its staff will continue to work, and most will be paid, according to its latest publicly available shutdown contingency plan. 

Health care will continue uninterrupted at VA medical centers and outpatient clinics, and vets will still receive benefits, including compensation, pension, education and housing.

Veterans suicide prevention and homelessness programs will remain in operation, and the Veterans Crisis Line will continue to answer calls. The crisis line can be reached by dialing 988 followed by pressing 1, or by texting 838255.

The MyVA411 and PACT Act call centers will operate “as necessary to prevent disruption to mandatory VA benefit programs,” according to the department’s guide.

The National Cemetery Administration will continue to inter veterans and eligible family members, as well as schedule burials, determine eligibility and process headstone applications. However, headstone and marker installation and groundskeeping will cease, and the application assistance unit call center will be closed.

All Transition Assistance Programs, including career and financial counseling, are suspended, and the GI Bill hotline is not taking calls. 

The department’s whistleblower program is also not accepting or investigating complaints. 

Executive Office of the President

The first Trump administration posted a contingency plan in March 2018, though it doesn’t appear there is a current one and the White House did not respond to a request from States Newsroom about how it’s implementing the shutdown. 

The earlier three-page plan said the president planned to place “1068 of the 1759 EOP staff in furlough status (“Non-Excepted Staff’), while an estimated 691 EOP staff would continue to report to duty.”

President Donald Trump continues to be paid during a shutdown, as are members of Congress, under the law.

Judicial branch 

The Supreme Court will remain functioning during the shutdown, as well as the federal courts. 

By using court fees, the judiciary branch can continue with paid operations until Oct. 17, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Most proceedings and deadlines set in cases will continue, but if Department of Justice attorneys representing the executive branch are furloughed, then those cases will be rescheduled. 

Supreme Court judges and federal judges will continue to be paid due to Article III of the U.S. Constitution that specifies judge’s compensation “shall not be diminished” during their term.