With a government shutdown looming at midnight Monday, Sept. 30, if Congress and the White House cannot agree on funding, here is a guide to the potential impact. Do service members report to work on Tuesday? Yes, military members have to work even if there is no defense funding bill. What about civilians? Federal civilian workers will report to work on Tuesday morning, but some may be sent home. Essential workers and all political appointees will continue to work, but nonessential employees will be expected to remain only long enough to pass must-do tasks to someone else and secure their workspaces. Will we be paid? Oct. 1 deposits will have been made to military members’ bank accounts before the midnight Sept. 30 deadline for a shutdown. Whether service members received their mid-month checks will depend on how long a government shutdown continues. Service members won’t be paid again after Oct. 1 until Congress provides funding, and they also won’t receive their normal mid-month checks unless the funding dispute is resolved by about Oct. 9, because of the time it takes to process the payroll. For federal workers, the next scheduled pay date is Nov. 1. Like service members, nobody would be paid if government funding isn’t restored by about Oct. 28 because of payroll processing. It is not certain that nonessential federal civilians will be paid for days when they did not work. Congress has approved back pay of this kind after previous government shutdowns, but that was in a different fiscal climate. Will military retirees be paid? Military retiree and survivors benefits are not dependent on regular appropriations, so monthly checks are not affected by a government shutdown. However, retirement checks could be delayed or reduced by a second fiscal crisis that is expected to hit later in October when the federal government reaches its $16.7 trillion debt ceiling. Will healthcare be limited? Military hospitals and health and dental clinics could be limited to treatment for active-duty service members only, or for acute care and emergencies for other patients. Tricare coverage is not expected to be immediately affected because contracts for the Tricare providers are not limited to a single year. Is military travel affected by a shutdown? Permanent change of station moves are likely to be delayed if the government runs out of money the order to stop travel would not take effect right away. People already in the process of moving to a new duty station would continue to move. Official travel, such as troop movements, would continue although only essential travel would be allowed Will commissaries and exchanges be open? On-base shoppers can expect a mixed bag: Exchanges are expected to remain open but stateside commissaries could be closed or have reduced hours. It’s not clear whether defense officials would have leeway to decide to keep some or all commissaries open. What about family housing maintenance and operations? If you live in privatized housing — owned and operated by civilian companies — you shouldn’t see any effects. The civilian employees will be there to take your maintenance phone calls and to do the maintenance. If you live in the small percentage of family housing that is still owned by the government, there may be problems with maintenance if the government employees are not working. What about dining halls? Dining halls will remain open because feeding service members is considered an essential duty of the Defense department.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 16:06:23 +0000
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