Frequently Asked Questions

Will Social Security benefit payments be impacted?

The Social Security Administration will continue activities critical to direct-service operations and those needed to ensure accurate and timely payment of benefits. Each State will have to determine whether it can maintain limited Disability Determination Services operations and pay its employees during a lapse. Discontinued activities will include benefit verifications, FOIA requests, Medicare card replacement, and trainings. 

For more information, click here.

Will Medicare and Medicaid continue to operate?

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Program will continue. CMS also has sufficient funding for Medicaid to fund the first quarter of FY 2026 and will maintain staff necessary to make payments to eligible states for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). 

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Will veterans benefits and services remain accessible?

VA Medical Centers, Outpatient Clinics, and Vet Centers will be open as usual and providing all services. VA benefits will continue to be processed and delivered, including compensation, pension, education, and housing benefits. Burials will continue at VA national cemeteries. Applications for headstones, markers, and burial benefits processing will continue. The Board of Veterans’ Appeals will continue decisions on Veterans’ cases. Suicide prevention programs, homelessness services and caregiver support will continue.

Some programs and offices will be interrupted. For more information, click here.

Will the IRS, including tax enforcement and assistance, continue operating?

For the first five business days of a shutdown, all IRS staff will work and the agency will not experience a lapse in appropriations, so normal IRS operations are expected to continue.

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Will access to the National Park System be limited or barred?

National Parks will remain partially open –– roads, trails and open-air memorials under the park system will be open to visitors. Additionally, parks that collect recreation fees will maintain some staff and basic visitor services. Buildings that require staffing will be closed to the public. Some personnel will perform emergency response, border and coastal protection and surveillance, and fire suppression and monitoring activities.

In Arkansas, officials have confirmed that outdoor areas at sites in Hot Springs, Pea Ridge, Little Rock's Central High School and Clinton Presidential Library remain accessible to the public while visitor centers, museums and gift shops are inaccessible. All indoor facilities at the Fort Smith Historic Site are closed, but visitors can still walk the grounds.

For more information on the Department of Interior’s contingency plan, click here.

Will the State Department continue to process passports and visas as well as provide travel assistance?

Consular operations domestically and abroad will remain operational. This includes passports, visas, and assisting U.S. citizens abroad. All U.S. embassies and consulates abroad will be operational for national security reasons.

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What services and programs under the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be interrupted?

Food safety inspections will continue while preventative food safety efforts may be disrupted.

Select Farm Service Agency leadership at headquarters and state offices will be available in the case of a natural disaster response and to ensure the security interest of Commodity Credit Corporation. If a shutdown continues past 10 days, additionally, one farm loan employee and/or one county office farm program employee per service center will be excepted on call to complete certain loan processing items to protect the security interest of the government and to prevent the loss of security or loss of value to the borrower.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will at least be funded through October, while the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as WIC (Women, Infants & Children) will continue through the first week of a shutdown.

The majority of Risk Management Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, Food and Nutrition Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Economic Research Service, National Agricultural Statistical Service, Rural Development, and Staff Office activities will cease operations during the shutdown.

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Are U.S. Army Corps of Engineers owned or managed sites open?

The Little Rock District plans to keep recreation areas it owns open for public use unless funding and/or staffing are no longer available. That includes locations along the Arkansas River, Beaver Lake, Table Rock Lake, Bull Shoals, Norfork Lake, Greers Ferry, Nimrod Lake, Blue Mountain Lake and Millwood Tri-Lakes area. Campgrounds or parks managed by the state or a private company on Corps property will not have operations affected.

Is the U.S. Postal Service impacted by a shutdown?

U.S. Postal Service operations will not be interrupted in the event of a government shutdown, and all Post Offices will remain open for business as usual. USPS is an independent entity that is generally funded through the sale of products and services, not tax dollars.

• Please note that White House tours, which were paused in September to accommodate construction of a State Ballroom, continue to be unavailable. In addition, tours of the U.S. Capitol will be unavailable for the duration of the shutdown, however, the House and Senate Galleries will remain open to the public.
• The Smithsonian will continue to operate through at least Monday, October 6 using prior-year federal appropriation balances.