If there are any silver linings for South Floridians in the face of a potential U.S. Government shutdown, they are in the form of Social Security payments and other federal benefits that would keep flowing, a commercial aviation system that would still operate, and law enforcement and military service members who will remain at their posts.
But as of Thursday, members of Congress remained sharply divided over how to prevent a federal shutdown by a Saturday midnight deadline, raising the likelihood of millions of furloughs of federal employees, and no immediate pay for those defending the country and providing other critical services such as security at the airports and air traffic control. Anyone kept on would be paid retroactively.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the U.S. government started notifying federal workers that a shutdown appears imminent, as the Biden administration started the formal process of preparing much of the federal government to come to a halt.
The Senate has voted to continue government funding at current levels through Nov. 17 to buy time for a consensus on a bill for a full year of spending. It includes $6 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster aid, an extension of Federal Aviation Administration authorization that will expire Saturday, and money for 7 million people benefitting from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. But House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., ruled out the Senate measure, saying the House would “probably” have its own version by Friday, according to reports.
For the thousands of tri-county area retirees who rely on monthly Social Security checks, word that money will continue during a shutdown came last month in a letter from a high-ranking official of the Social Security Administration to the Office of Management and Budget.
“We will continue activities critical to our direct-service operations and those needed to ensure accurate and timely payment of benefits,” wrote Chad Poist, deputy commissioner for Budget, Finance and Management for the Social Security Administration.
Other government benefits that would continue uninterrupted include Medicare and Medicaid, as well as veterans’ benefits distributed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Still, Social Security will furlough several thousand people whose duties are not related to “essential” services, Poist said. “We will cease activities not directly related to the accurate and timely payment of benefits or not critical to our direct-service operations.”
Such is the template for many federal agencies that only this week are updating plans to either continue to serve the public because they do not require funding authorizations from Congress, or cease operations because they are not considered as critical.
FEMA Holdbacks
As the deadline approached, the Biden administration started to delay about $2.8 billion in grants to allow FEMA to buttress a thinned-out budget to help victims of hurricanes, fires and other disasters, according to the Washington Post.
But the action reportedly disrupted recovery efforts in Florida and other areas struck by natural catastrophes. The Senate bill that includes money for FEMA would head off a shortfall.
Travel
Spokesmen for two of South Florida’s international airports said Wednesday that so far, they expect flights will be operating as usual.
“We have not been advised to anticipate any disruption to air operations at this time,” said Joe Harrington at Palm Beach International Airport.
“Currently, we do not anticipate any disruption to operations at MIA,” said spokesman Greg Chin at Miami International Airport. “If MIA were to experience any delays attributed to the federal shutdown, we would notify travelers to give themselves additional time.”
The U.S. Travel Association noted that during the 35-day government shutdown in 2018-19, lines at airport security checkpoints grew as workers at the Transportation Security Administration called in sick or resigned because they weren’t getting paid.
As if the memories were fresh, the association said a survey it conducted with the assistance of Ipsos found six out of 10 American travelers are canceling their plans in favor of later dates.
It estimates a federal government shutdown is estimated to cost the U.S. travel economy as much as $140 million daily if Congress fails to pass a short-term funding extension by Sunday.
Alan Diaz / AP
Travelers stand in line as they prepare to be screened at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. TSA workers would be expected to work during a government shutdown, but would not be immediately paid. (Alan Diaz/AP file)“Each day that passes will cost the travel economy $140 million, an unacceptable prospect that Congress must avoid before the clock runs out and the damages mount,” Geoff Freeman, the association’s CEO and president, said in a statement.. “The federal government is already failing the traveler—a shutdown would be further proof of Washington’s inability to find reasonable solutions to problems that affect Americans nationwide.”
Travelers looking to head overseas still will be able to have their passports renewed, so long as the local State Department office that processes them is not located in a U.S. Government building that is ordered to close.
Back home, Amtrak, the national passenger rail service that operates daily trains in and out of South Florida, said it is “closely monitoring” the situation and plans “to continue normal operations.”
“Passengers planning to travel on Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor and across the country in the coming days and weeks can be assured that Amtrak will remain open for business,” the railroad said in a statement.
The popular national parks system has yet to disclose a current contingency plan.
“We are hopeful that a lapse in congressional appropriations will not occur, but as of right now we don’t have any updates on our contingency plan at this time,” Everglades & Dry Tortugas National Parks said in an unsigned email to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
A National Parks Service spokeswoman in Washington did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Justice and Law Enforcement
A two-year-old Justice Department contingency plan calls for law enforcement agencies to continue operating, which will require agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and related agencies to stay on the job. Guards who work for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons also would remain at their posts.
Agencies under the Department of Homeland Security umbrella such as the U.S. Coast Guard, TSA, Customs and Border Protection, ICE, Secret Service and FEMA are expected to retain most of their employees during a shutdown, according to a DHS fact sheet released Thursday.
The DHS said 185,000 or 72% of its agencies’ employees would be retained but required to work without pay.
The federal court system would remain operational for at least two weeks, according the Judicial Conference, the courts’ administrative arm.
Although the website of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida is silent on the issue, U.S. Circuit Judge Lavenski Smith, chair of the executive committee of the judiciary’s policymaking body, told reporters in Washington that the court system can use fees and other funds that are not sourced by Congressional appropriations. The money will allow the courts to avoid furloughing some 33,000 workers, according to Reuters.
It would also mean that as with past shutdowns, criminal prosecutions in the Southern District of Florida, which stretches from Key West to Fort Pierce, would continue. That includes the government’s classified documents case against former President Donald Trump.
