How Social Security Payments Are Affected by Government Shutdown

Social Security payments will still go out during the government shutdown — but recipients might start to see delays to other services.

Federal agencies are officially rolling out their contingency plans after the government partially closed on October 1. It follows Democratic and Republican lawmakers’ failure to reach a funding agreement before the shutdown deadline.

The Social Security Administration’s plan made clear that the 74 million Americans who receive Social Security benefits will continue to get those payments during the shutdown.

“We will continue activities critical to our direct-service operations and those needed to ensure accurate and timely payment of benefits,” the plan said.

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SSA said it will furlough 6,197 employees and will retain all the employees necessary to ensure that benefits go out to recipients on schedule. Since Social Security benefits fall into mandatory spending, meaning that the payments have already been approved by Congress and aren’t funded by the annual appropriations that lapsed this week, disability and retirement benefits will not be interrupted.

However, some SSA activities will cease during the shutdown. According to the agency’s plan, benefit verifications, overpayment processing, and Medicare card replacements will be paused.

Additionally, the agency’s cost-of-living adjustment could be delayed, which annually adjusts benefits to keep up with inflation. The announcement is scheduled for October 15 in conjunction with the Labor Department’s consumer price index release. If the shutdown goes on long enough, that release would be delayed, and the Labor Department’s contingency plan noted that would in turn push back the benefits adjustment.

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On Tuesday, Frank Bisignano — SSA’s commissioner — sent an email to the agency’s employees blaming Democrats for blocking the funding bill and ushering in a shutdown, similar to an email sent out to employees of agencies across the federal government.

“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,” the email, reviewed by Business Insider, said.

More federal firings could also be imminent over the duration of the shutdown — the Office of Management and Budget asked federal agencies to “consider” terminating federal workers in programs that are inconsistent with the administration’s policies.