Well YMMV but as a contractor it hadn't mattered since they're paid from stashed money. A government shutdown mostly means the government can't borrow any more

Well YMMV but as a contractor it hadn't mattered since they're paid from stashed money. A government shutdown mostly means the government can't borrow any more money but if they've already borrowed it and it's not spent they can still spend it. i.e if the government stashed money somehow (not rare) they can continue to use that stashed money to pay you. So Social Security has stashed money and it'll pay out recipients. However they will prioritize payouts over verifying benefits. Which IIRC means you can continue to get money but if you wanted to apply for social security you need to wait 3 weeks for the government to un-shutdown. TSA apparently does not stash money so will require work-for-delayed-pay. National parks do not do work-without-pay so hopefully you don't have a vacation involving them. Unsurprisingly, flood insurance doesn't have a stash of money so they'll immediately halt any payouts. https://www.axios.com/2023/09/27/government-shutdown-effects-food-stamps-benefits https://www.axios.com/2023/09/27/government-shutdown-effects...