As federal agencies brace for a government shutdown, deciding which IT staffers will be needed to maintain essential operations and who will be furloughed has proven much harder to resolve than when the government shutdown last time 17 years ago.
With the House unable to deliver a spending resolution on Sunday that would win acceptance by Senate Democrats and the president, it appeared likely that the majority of government agencies would shut down just after midnight on Oct. 1 and more than 800,000 federal workers would be furloughed, with more than a million people more facing the prospects of working without a paycheck.
But who exactly will keep the government’s IT systems running, especially if the shutdown isn’t resolve quickly, remains in question.
The shutdown would mean a wide range of government activities will be suspended, including access to national parks and museums and the processing of passport and FHA loan applications. But the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, Health and Human Services, the FAA and others which provide essential public services will remain open, albeit without full support.