--- title: Will Social Security Be Affected by the Government Shutdown? description: Tens of millions of Americans that rely on Social Security will still receive payments, though they may experience some service disruptions. canonical: https://time.com/7322350/government-shutdown-social-security-benefits-payments/ author: Solcyré Burga article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-10-01T17:25:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T08:11:40.381Z article:section: Politics og:title: Will Social Security Be Affected by the Government Shutdown? og:description: Americans that rely on Social Security will still receive payments, though they may experience some service disruptions og:url: https://time.com/7322350/government-shutdown-social-security-benefits-payments/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf72b0c56138c05e5/6998ca51a97fc023d3a74bc1/government-shutdown-social-security.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Government Shutdown Looms As House And Senate Disagree On Funding Bill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Will Social Security Be Affected by the Government Shutdown? twitter:description: Americans that rely on Social Security will still receive payments, though they may experience some service disruptions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf72b0c56138c05e5/6998ca51a97fc023d3a74bc1/government-shutdown-social-security.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Will Social Security Be Affected by the Government Shutdown? > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2f36a42f-1b07-4d7c-aef3-fb0dfd7a1cf2&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Government Shutdown Could Start Wednesday. Here’s How It Could Affect Your Life [Watch (HLS stream): A Government Shutdown Could Start Wednesday. Here’s How It Could Affect Your Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oSuO7VVR.m3u8) (1:35)  _Published 2025-09-30. The federal government is set to shut down on Wednesday unless Congress manages to strike a last-minute agreement to pass a stopgap spending bill before the Sept. 30 funding deadline. While it's become common practice for Congress to avert a shutdown at the last possible moment, such an outcome appears increasingly unlikely as lawmakers have departed Washington with no agreement in sight._  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Oct 1, 2025 5:25 PM UTC The federal government is set to shut down on Wednesday unless Congress manages to strike a last-minute agreement to pass a stopgap spending bill before the Sept. 30 funding deadline. While it's become common practice for Congress to avert a shutdown at the last possible moment, such an outcome appears increasingly unlikely as lawmakers have departed Washington with no agreement in sight.  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Oct 1, 2025 5:25 PM UTC The [tens of millions of Americans](https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat%5Fsnapshot/) that rely on Social Security will continue to receive their payments while the [government is shut down](https://time.com/7322164/government-shutdown-begins-donald-trump/), though they may experience other service disruptions. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is funded through mandatory spending, meaning that funding for the agency does not require annual congressional approval and it does not have to pause its essential services after lawmakers failed to reach a deal to fund the government by Wednesday’s deadline. So while the shutdown is set to disrupt a wide range of federal programs, the SSA will continue holding appointments for benefit applications, considering appeals requests, and issuing original and replacement Social Security cards, among other services. “We will continue activities critical to our direct-service operations and those needed to ensure accurate and timely payment of benefits,” a [document](https://www.ssa.gov/agency/shutdown/materials/contingency-plan-09-24-25.pdf) outlining the SSA’s plan during a shutdown reads. **Read more:** [_The Federal Government Has Shut Down. Here’s How It Could Affect Your Life_](https://time.com/7320516/government-shutdown-impact-federal-workers-airports-parks-mail/) More than 45,000 staffers, or nearly 90% of the SSA’s workforce, will remain on the job during the shutdown, allowing the agency to continue much of its work. But the planned furlough of approximately 6,200 employees could cause delays in its responses to requests for assistance. And the agency has said it will discontinue some services during the shutdown, including benefit verifications, earnings record corrections and updates, 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 delayed. The measure, typically announced each October, adjusts the benefits Social Security recipients earn to counteract the effects of inflation. This marks the first government shutdown in almost seven years. It comes as lawmakers appear to remain deadlocked in a showdown over government spending after Democrats rejected a Republican measure to temporarily extend funding and Republicans have refused to meet Democrats’ demand that Affordable Care Act subsidies be permanently extended as part of a deal. It is unclear how long this shutdown will go on; the last time one occurred, during the first Trump Administration, it lasted a lengthy 34 days. **Read more:** [_Republican and Democratic Lawmakers React to Government Shutdown as Blame Game Ensues_](https://time.com/7322235/government-shutdown-republican-democrat-lawmakers-react-blame-game/) If a partial shutdown lasts longer than five days, the Social Security Administration has said that it would reassess the number of employees that are 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 says. ## Transcript [00:00] The federal government is set to shut down on Wednesday unless Congress manages [00:03] to strike a last minute agreement before the September 30th funding deadline. [00:07] So if it has to shut down, [00:09] it will have to shut down. [00:10] Here's how government shutdown could affect you. [00:12] The most significant impact will be to federal workers, [00:15] most of whom would be sent home without pay. [00:17] But in a departure from how past shutdowns have been managed, [00:20] the white House Budget Office is instructing agencies to prepare plans [00:23] for permanent mass firings in programs that would lose funding, [00:26] rather than temporary furloughs. [00:28] Recreational facilities funded by the federal government, [00:31] such as national parks and Smithsonian museums, [00:34] would be forced to close. [00:35] Social security, Medicare and Medicaid would continue to run during a shutdown. [00:39] However, in past shutdowns, [00:41] both agencies have cut back on related services, [00:44] such as halting the issuance of new Social Security cards, [00:47] replacement Medicare cards, and [00:48] benefit verifications services for veterans outside the health system, [00:52] including some administrative functions and benefits. [00:54] Processing could be delayed. [00:56] Families could see delays in food assistance. [00:59] Ice agents and Customs and Border Protection will remain on duty. [01:02] Detention facilities will also continue to operate, [01:05] though court hearings for some immigration cases may be delayed. [01:08] Air travel might slow as TSA agents and [01:10] air traffic controllers are asked to work without pay. [01:13] There may also not be a monthly jobs report on October 3rd, [01:16] which could impact the Federal Reserve's decision making [01:18] and create uncertainty in the markets. [01:20] The last government shutdown took place in [01:22] December 2018 under President Donald Trump's first term, [01:26] when most government activity came to a halt for 34 days. 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