Individuals who depend on Social Security will continue to receive their payments during the government shutdown, though they may encounter disruptions in other services.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) operates with mandatory funding, meaning its financing does not require annual approval from Congress. As a result, the agency is not compelled to halt its essential services after lawmakers failed to agree on a government funding deal by Wednesday’s deadline. Thus, while the shutdown is expected to affect numerous federal programs, the SSA will proceed with appointments for benefit applications, consider appeals requests, and issue original and replacement Social Security cards, among other operations.
“We will maintain activities vital to our direct-service operations and those necessary to guarantee accurate and timely payment of benefits,” states a document outlining the SSA’s strategy during a shutdown.
Over 45,000 staff members, representing nearly 90% of the SSA’s workforce, are set to remain on duty throughout the shutdown, enabling the agency to continue most of its functions. However, the planned furlough of approximately 6,200 employees could result in delays in responding to requests for assistance. The agency has also indicated it will suspend certain services during the shutdown, including benefit verifications, corrections and updates to earnings records, overpayments processing, and the issuance of replacement Medicare cards.
The Social Security Administration’s annual COLA, or cost-of-living adjustment, announcement, may also be postponed. This measure, typically released each October, adjusts the benefits Social Security recipients receive to mitigate the impact of inflation.
This marks the first government shutdown in nearly seven years. It arises as lawmakers appear to be at an impasse in a dispute over government spending, following Democrats’ rejection of a Republican proposal for a temporary funding extension and Republicans’ refusal to meet Democrats’ demand that Affordable Care Act subsidies be permanently extended as part of any agreement. The duration of this shutdown is uncertain; the previous one, which occurred during the first Trump Administration, lasted a considerable 34 days.
Should a partial shutdown extend beyond five days, the Social Security Administration has stated it would reassess the number of employees exempted from work. “We would reevaluate the number of excepted employees performing such functions and possibly increase the number of excepted employees as we did during the 2013 shutdown,” the document clarifies.
