Here's how the federal government shutdown could affect Wisconsinites

Another federal government shutdown is on the horizon for the United States if congressional Republicans fail to pass a government funding bill before Oct. 1.

This would be the 22nd shutdown in the last five decades, and it would have far-reaching effects on national agencies, affecting families across the country.

Amid largely stalled negotiations on Capitol Hill, the federal Office of Management and Budget has already begun the process of advising agencies which employees it may have to furlough ahead of a looming deadline Saturday at midnight.

The last time Congress failed to pass a government spending bill, nearly a million Americans were furloughed or went without pay, President Joe Biden wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Processing times at the Internal Revenue Service slowed down. Military families had less access to critical family support programs. Some federal support for Indigenous tribes came grinding to a halt.

This most recent government shutdown lasted 35 days from December 2018 to January 2019 and was the longest in U.S. history.

So how would the possible upcoming government shutdown impact Wisconsin?

Will I still receive mail during the government shutdown?

Yes. The U.S. Postal Service “does not cease operations during any Federal lapse in appropriations as it is funded through a permanent no-year appropriation,” according to its 2024 fiscal year shutdown plan. This means you will still receive mail during the shutdown.

According to U.S. Congressman Dan Kildee, the approximately 500,000 Postal Service employees are exempt from furlough because the Postal Service is self-funded.

How will Medicare and Social Security benefits be affected by the government shutdown?

Though some of the Social Security administration's employees would be furloughed ahead of the shutdown, Social Security recipients will continue to receive payments.

Under the administration's 2024 fiscal year contingency plan, many agency services would continue without interruption. These include the processing of benefit applications, appeal requests and hearings, post-entitlement actions such as address changes and the issuing of new and replacement Social Security cards.

A few services — such as verification of benefits, or corrections and updates to earnings records — would be temporarily suspended.

According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., major programs and benefits such as Social Security and Medicare are generally unaffected by shutdowns because Congress has approved these programs to spend without an expiration date — what is known as mandatory spending, which comprises about $7 of every $10 spent by the federal government.

Will federal workers get paid during the shutdown?

Many of America's 3.5 million federal workers, including active duty military, would go without pay during the shutdown, according to NBC. Federal law enforcement will also be among those impacted.

Some essential workers, including air traffic controllers and airport TSA officers, will have to work without pay.

In 2019, this led to protests by Milwaukee aviation workers feeling the effects of their missing paychecks.

Will national and state parks be open during the shutdown?

National parks could be impacted right away. While the decision on whether to close them will be up to the Biden administration, some of the nation's parks have closed entirely during past shutdowns. Those that stayed open — and unstaffed — were left in states of disarray.

According to Reuters, many parks remained open during a 2018-2019 shutdown, though restrooms and information desks were closed and waste disposal was halted. They were closed during a 2013 shutdown.

The shutdown could also affect Wisconsin natural sites funded through the National Park Service.

During the last government shutdown, the Ice Age Trail was forced to cancel volunteer-led activities, as its Ice Age Trail Alliance volunteers are protected by insurance that is federally funded through the National Park Service.

Activities led by the state or county at the trail were not affected by the government shutdown, though, so people could still enjoy hiking, snowshoeing, running, backpacking and more.

How will the shutdown affect childcare?

Although K-12 and higher education policy is largely handled at the state and local level, the impact on families could be significant, particularly when it comes to federally supported child-care services.

“As workers go without pay, families go without child care, poor families lose support for housing and food, and schools feel the squeeze,” said David R. Schuler, executive director of the AASA: the School Superintendents Association, in a statement Friday urging lawmakers to keep the government open.

One of the programs that would be endangered right away is Head Start, which serves low-income families nationwide. According to the White House, 10,000 children across the country would immediately lose access to it, as the Department of Health and Human Services would be unable to award federal grants to child-care centers.

As in past shutdowns, that would force some preschool and school readiness centers to close, according to the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank. Bobby Kogan, a senior director of federal budget policy at the center, wrote in a column last week that a shutdown “would have devastating impacts on essential programs that millions rely on for their health and safety.”

The longer it lasts, he wrote, the worse off those programs would be.

How will schools and student loans be affected?

The Education Department would be forced to furlough about 90% of its staff in the case of a shutdown, according to a 2021 blueprint.

Federal student aid — in the form of Pell Grants and federal direct student loans — would keep flowing, but those programs would be operating with a minimum number of staff amid furloughs: what the department refers to in its 2021 guidance as "skeletal program operations."

The lack of bandwidth could pose barriers for students with immediate needs, the department warned in 2021.

How will the shutdown affect food programs like SNAP and WIC?

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which provides food benefits to millions of low-income families, would continue throughout the month of October, said U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack during a White House briefing Monday. But if the shutdown drags on longer than October, SNAP funding would be put at risk.

In more immediate danger would be the 7 million moms and children relying on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC. That program, according to USDA, helps low-income mothers with infants and children at nutritional risk by offering easier access to things like food and healthcare referrals. Their benefits would dry up within a matter of days, Vilsack said, though some states might be able to use extra funding to stave off the effects for a week or two.

During the last government shutdown four years ago, the government nearly ran out of SNAP funding that would’ve affected some 40 million Americans.

A shutdown would halt EPA water and chemical facilities testing

Should a government shutdown occur, the White House also warned that most Environmental Protection Agency inspections of drinking water and chemical facilities would also be put on hold.

An unexpected effect on food seen during the last shutdown was the effect on Milwaukee's craft beer scene.

Breweries are governed by the federal agency Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which approves licenses for new breweries, some ingredients and labels for beers sent out of state. During the shutdown, it was not operating. This meant some breweries were temporarily delayed in getting new beers approved and released.

Will the federal courthouse in Milwaukee be closed during the shutdown?

Reuters reported that "federal courts have enough money to stay open until at least Oct. 13. Activities might be scaled back after that point. The Supreme Court would stay open as well."

Milwaukee is home to a federal court building, at 517 E. Wisconsin Ave.

How will the shutdown affect farmers and agriculture?

The shutdown will cause farmers to wait on subsidy payments, loans and data they need now to make plans for the spring and future growing seasons. This is because USDA Farm Service Agency offices, which process farm loans and gather data farmers need to make decisions, would be closed.

Similar to previous shutdowns, marketing loans for many farmers would enter into a state of limbo as Farm Service Agency offices in most U.S. counties shutter. More broadly, USDA-backed housing loans for rural families would cease as well.

More: Government shutdown looms over farmers as they face tough decisions

How will the shutdown impact Wisconsin's Native American tribes?

Many tribes are dependent on federal programs to provide a number of services. During the last government shutdown, Wisconsin tribes had to use their own funds to continue to provide education, health, law enforcement, food pantries and other services.

At the time of the last shutdown, about 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives received basic services from the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, which furloughed over half of its employees.

More: 'It's truly scary': Wisconsin's Indian tribes squeezed by federal government shutdown

USA TODAY reporters Terry Collins, Marc Ramirez and Zachary Schermele contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Government shutdown 2023: How a shutdown would affect Wisconsin