Agencies begin sending furlough notices as shutdown nears

Updated Dec. 20 at 2:52 p.m.

Federal agencies have begun notifying impacted federal employees they could be furloughed effective at midnight, the White House said on Friday as Congress struggles to come up with a plan to avoid a government shutdown. 

A vote to keep government afloat through March failed Thursday evening and House Republican leaders are scrambling Friday to find an alternative path forward. In the event that does not succeed, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed and face the potential for delayed paychecks. Those exempted or excepted from furloughs because they protect life and property, or due to the nature of their office’s funding, would continue working with only the promise of back pay. 

“We believe there’s still time for Congress to prevent a partial shutdown,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday, “but in the interest of prudent planning—we want to be prudent here—agencies did start notifying their employees of their potential furlough today at noon.” 

According to agency plans from last year, the government is set to furlough about 737,000 employees, or 34%, of the federal workforce. Those employees are guaranteed back pay once the government reopens, as are those who must continue to work. 

Republican leaders convened a conference meeting Friday afternoon to pitch their latest plan to the caucus. It was originally set to contain three separate bills but lawmakers emerged from the meeting saying they planned to vote on one package Friday afternoon: the measure will include a continuing resolution to fund agencies at their current levels through March 14, more than $100 billion in disaster aid to victims of hurricanes Helene and Milton, as well as other events, and economic assistance to farmers. The plan would require a two-thirds majority for passage, meaning a large portion of Democrats would have to support the bill. 

Some Republicans suggested they expected Democrats to throw their support behind the measure and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., had indicated as such. Democrats did not immediately confirm they would back it. 

The measure would then to go to the Senate, where any one senator could object to immediate passage and force at least a short shutdown. 

Trump has insisted that Congress address the nation’s borrowing limit—which the U.S. Treasury is set to hit at some point in the middle of 2025—as part of any bill to keep the government open, but that provision was dropped from the expected vote. 

On the Senate side, Republicans said they supported the House’s latest effort. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., criticized House leaders for removing critical provisions from the original, bipartisan agreement to fund government. He indicated, however, that he could support the CR and other bills if they were merged together upon reaching the Senate. 

Jean-Pierre said President Biden has been kept apprised of the latest developments in Congress but was intentionally staying out of the negotiations. 

“Republicans blew up this deal,” she said. “It is their mess to fix.” 

Trump and his confidante Elon Musk threw previous plans awry on Wednesday when they denounced a tediously negotiated bipartisan package and insisted many of its provisions not be included.

Democratic leaders suggested talks with their Republican counterparts had resumed Friday, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said would be essential to avoid agency closures. 

“If Republicans do not work with Democrats in a bipartisan way very soon,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Friday morning, “the government will shut down at midnight.”

This report has been updated with additional detail.