WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Friday passed a bill funding the departments of Defense, Health, Labor and Transportation, among others, with both Alaska senators voting yes.
Still, hours later, at 8 p.m. Alaska time, funding will lapse for those departments, comprising much of the government. The U.S. House still has to pass the bill, and House members don’t return to the Capitol until Monday.
The shutdown, or lapse in funding, could last just one weekday. That would be minimal compared to the 43-day shutdown in 2025, the longest in U.S. history.
Nonetheless, the Office of Management and Budget says it will follow its usual shutdown practices.
Unless they’re told otherwise, all federal employees who would normally report to work on Monday should still go, according to the OMB’s plans. It’s standard practice on the first weekday after a funding lapse for federal workers to be on duty to launch the orderly shutdown procedures.
Then, if the shutdown continues, agencies are expected to notify their employees if they are essential and have to come to work, or if they will be put on furlough.
This time, the impact on Alaskans will be more limited than the shutdown last fall, because Congress has already funded many departments for the rest of the fiscal year. Those include NOAA and the departments of Commerce, Interior, Justice and Veterans Affairs.
Democrats held up a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. They demanded reforms to curb the kind of harsh immigration enforcement tactics deployed in Minneapolis, where agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens.
Now, Congress and the White House have two weeks to reach an agreement on what those reforms will be. Both of Alaska’s senators say they support some type of reform.
