Pentagon releases guidance for potential government shutdown

The Pentagon has released its guidance on what to do if the government shuts down with hours to go for Congress to prevent that from happening.

“The department will, of course, continue to prosecute the war in Afghanistan and the ongoing operations against al Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, including preparation of forces for deployment into those conflicts,” Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan wrote in the memo.

“The department must, as well, continue many other operations necessary for the safety of human life or the protection of property. … These activities will be ‘excepted’ from the effects of a lapse in appropriations: all other activities would need to be shut down in an orderly and deliberate fashion, including — with few exceptions — the cessation of temporary duty travel.”

The government will shut down at midnight on Friday unless Congress passes legislation to continue funding it.

The House passed a short-term spending bill Thursday night largely on party lines.

{mosads}But Senate Democrats are vowing to block it in their chamber, citing its lack of a fix for an Obama-era program rescinded by President Trump that protected young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. A few Senate Republicans, too, have said they will not vote for the monthlong continuing resolution.

If a deal cannot be reached and the government shuts down, all active-duty troops will continue working as normal but will not get paid unless Congress acts, according to the Pentagon memo. 

Civilian personnel who are needed to carry out or support “excepted activities” will also report to work and not get paid until Congress acts, Shanahan added.

In 2013, the last government shutdown, Congress passed a bill in the middle of the shutdown that paid active-duty troops and many civilian Pentagon employees. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) introduced similar legislation earlier this week.

Civilian employees who are not needed for excepted activities will be furloughed, according to the memo.

The secretaries of the military departments and heads of Defense Department components, including combatant commands, are responsible for determining which activities are “excepted,” according to the memo.

Examples of potential excepted activities include direct administrative, logistical and medical support for military operations, intelligence operations in direct support of military operations, responses to emergencies such as counterterrorism and nuclear reactor safety and inpatient care at Pentagon medical facilities.

“The guidance does not identify every excepted activity, but rather provides overarching direction and general principles for making these determinations,” Shanahan wrote. “It should be applied prudently in the context of a department at war, with the decisions guaranteeing our continued robust support for those engaged in that war, and providing assurance that the lives and property of our nation’s citizens will be protected.”

The federal government is bracing for a shutdown, with each agency having a shutdown plan written in consultation with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.