Even when the government grinds to a halt, there are laws governing the dysfunction.
Few know the rules better than Sam Berger, a senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and a former senior official at the Office of Management and Budget.
From limits on executive authority to government operations that can and cannot continue, Berger shared his expertise with the National Press Foundation’s Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship program.
Government shutdown definition
“A shutdown is when an agreement cannot be reached on annual appropriations, and so the funding lapses, meaning there is no appropriated funding,” Berger said. “The reason that we shut down is because of something called the Anti-Deficiency Act. The Anti-Deficiency Act is the law that basically says you can’t spend money unless Congress has provided it.”
Can Trump fire federal government workers furloughed during the shutdown?
Last week, a federal judge in California temporarily halted the administration’s plan to lay off thousands of workers during the shutdown, indicating that the Reductions in Force (RIFs) were politically motivated. The Associated Press reported that U.S. District Judge Susan Illston pressed the assistant U.S. attorney to explain the administration’s rationale for the more than 4,100 layoff notices, even though furloughed workers can not access their work emails and there are no human resources specialists to assist with next steps.
“What the administration has claimed is that it’s a core constitutional function. You’re welcome to peruse the Constitution and see the part where it lists RIFs as one of the things that has to happen. I haven’t found it,” Berger said. “This is obviously illegal. There’s a reason it’s never been the case before.”
What continues during a government shutdown
If there’s an imminent threat to life and property, those functions can continue.
“Think prison guards, FBI, air traffic controllers and military national security,” Berger said. “Then you have what’s called necessary implication. What that means is you have a funded function, but you need some unfunded work to support it. … So Social Security has money, but the people that actually process everything, those folks are funded through annual appropriations, and so they come into work and make sure that Social Security still functions.”
Some exceptions also apply to the Department of Defense, renamed the Department of War.
“In some cases, Congress has specifically said activities can continue. DOD’s feed and forage provision is sort of the classic example. Basically the idea is if the DOD needs stuff for military supplies and they don’t have money at any given time, they don’t have to call up Congress and be like, ‘Hey, we really need to get these supplies to help troops in the field.’ They just do it and then later they kind of figure it out. So it’s a limited authority, but it’s there for DOD.”
How long will the shutdown last?
“The logic always behind a shutdown is that shutdowns are short … most shutdowns just a couple days,” Berger said.
The 2025 government shutdown has become the second-longest on record, with the longest shutdown lasting 35 days in 2018-2019 during Trump’s first term. If the current shutdown lasts until Nov. 5, it will break that record. There is no indication that an agreement to end the shutdown is near.
Access the full transcript here.
