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Federal employees’ inboxes are dinging — it’s yet another email about their jobs.
Employees of multiple departments shared with Business Insider an email they received on Tuesday warning of a government shutdown and potential furloughs at midnight tonight. We spoke with 18 government workers, who used words like “confusion,” “uncertainty,” and “chaos” to describe the mood inside their agencies.
Several at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Social Security Administration, Department of the Interior, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Office of Personnel Management confirmed they received the email from their leadership. It outlines what is expected to happen if Democrats and Republicans fail to pass a funding bill by midnight and the federal government shuts down.
If the government shuts down at 12:01 am on Wednesday, federal employees might have to work without pay or get fired, if President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget goes through with potential plans outlined in a recent memo. Several agencies’ contingency plans indicate that thousands of workers could be furloughed if the budget isn’t passed. Tuesday’s email does not mention firings.
Federal employees are no strangers to mass emails during President Donald Trump’s second administration. They’ve received messages about widespread firings related to the Department of Government Efficiency and spent months sending their own weekly emails to leadership.
Have a tip? Contact these reporters via Signal at alliekelly.10, alicetecotzky.05, julianakaplan.33, jnewsham.77, and asheffey.97. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.
Read the email that some federal employees received on Tuesday afternoon:
President Trump opposes a government shutdown, and strongly supports the enactment of H.R. 5371, which is a clean Continuing Resolution to fund the government through November 21, and already passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Unfortunately, Democrats are blocking this Continuing Resolution in the U.S. Senate due to unrelated policy demands. If Congressional Democrats maintain their current posture and refuse to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded before midnight on September 30, 2025, federal appropriated funding will lapse.
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A funding lapse will result in certain government activities ceasing due to a lack of appropriated funding. In addition, designated pre-notified employees of this agency would be temporarily furloughed. P.L. 116-1 would apply.
The agency has contingency plans in place for executing an orderly shutdown of activities that would be affected by any lapse in appropriations forced by Congressional Democrats. Further information about those plans will be distributed should a lapse occur.
On Tuesday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development website also posted a red banner that reads, “The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands. The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people.”
‘How is this all going to work out in the end?’
For one Social Security employee, Tuesday’s email only brought confusion.
“We are told as employees that we cannot be seen as supporting one party over another,” they told Business Insider. “And it was very politically charged.”
The employee said the email did not clarify what to expect in the event of a government shutdown or how their job would be affected. The SSA’s contingency plan suggests over 6,000 workers could be furloughed.
With hours left before the shutdown deadline, the employee said that their whole office feels stressed about their paychecks and job security. Everyone has mortgages and bills to pay, the employee said, “How is this all going to work out in the end?”
A CDC employee told BI that they feel “numb” about the potential shutdown because DOGE has already impacted their day-to-day work. Though they worry about the future.
“I don’t have any control over what happens,” they said. “I don’t trust that I will get back pay if I am not fired. Nobody, including us, wants our work to be paused indefinitely.”
A representative for Senate Majority Leader John Thune referred Business Insider to remarks he made on Tuesday afternoon, saying that “if the government shuts down, it is on the Senate Democrats.”
“Democrats have said for months that we don’t want a shutdown and stand ready to work with Republicans to find a bipartisan way forward to address the looming healthcare crisis,” a spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a comment to Business Insider. “If Republicans continue to put politics over people and put their petty antics over American families, they will own this shutdown.”
Representatives for the White House, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and House Speaker Mike Johnson did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Jack Newsham, Ayelet Sheffey, Ana Altchek, and Madison Hoff contributed reporting.
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