Shutdown’s end will kick off long process of rebooting US government

WASHINGTON – The longest government shutdown in US history is coming to an end, but it could take days – and in some cases, a week or more – before normal operations resume.

Payroll systems must be updated to pay out weeks of back wages.

Backlogs of grant disbursements, loan applications and customer calls that went unanswered for 43 days – and counting – will now need to be cleared.

Delayed environmental permits, workplace inspections and contracting activities have stacked up across federal agencies.

None of the work of reopening the government can officially launch until the funding Bill has moved through Congress and has President Donald Trump’s signature.

The House of Representatives

passed the Senate-approved legislatio

n late on Nov 12, but it could take until Nov 14 – or even Nov 17 – for many agencies to resume operations.

Federal officials caution that some shutdown-related restrictions will linger.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Nov 12 that the administration

aims to start lifting flight curbs within a week

after the government reopens, a timeframe that comes just ahead of the busy Thanksgiving week travel holiday. 

His forecast for a return to normality was backed up by Delta Air Lines Inc’s chief executive officer Ed Bastian, who told Bloomberg Television on Nov 12 that Thanksgiving holiday travel should be “great”.  

While federal employees will receive back pay, agencies warn it could take time to recompute pay cheques.

Pay cheques will go out as soon as Nov 15, with a goal to complete all back payments by Nov 19, according to an administration official. 

A 2019 law requires agencies to pay workers their full salaries for the shutdown period “at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates”.

After the 2019 shutdown, it took air traffic controllers about two to two-and-a-half months to be made completely whole, said Mr Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

Mr Duffy has pledged to move more quickly this time.

He said controllers would get 70 per cent of their missed pay within 24 to 48 hours after the government reopens. The rest would come about one week after, he told reporters on Nov 11.

Furloughed workers were not able to use accrued vacation or sick time during the lapse – but they still earned more of it.

The Office of Personnel Management says furlough time counts as “pay status” for all purposes, meaning the government’s long-term liability for unused leave actually grows during a shutdown.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme, or food stamps, will return to normal payment cycles after weeks of uncertainty that forced states to delay and ration benefits.

Yet, even that will not happen instantly: States say they need as long as a week to update their beneficiary files and load debit cards.

And with only two major card vendors, there could be bottlenecks as every state looks to replenish benefits all at once. 

Shutdown hangover

The length of 2025’s shutdown hangover will vary by agency and can be difficult to predict.

Every department is required to maintain a shutdown contingency plan detailing how to close – and later restart – operations.

But most of the plans envision relatively short funding lapses, not a six-week stoppage.

Generally, furloughed workers will be told to report on the next business day after Mr Trump signs a new funding Bill – though some workers could be recalled with as little as four hours’ notice.

Agencies say they will show leniency for employees who cannot immediately return, allowing them to use accrued leave and comp time.

Some even say they will allow liberal use of telework, a practice Mr Trump has tried to curtail.

In a mirror image of the shutdown process, returning employees will spend their first hours engaged in internal business tasks: restarting computer systems, clearing out mailrooms, and reopening public counters that lay idle for more than a month. 

The shutdown halted an untold number of unfunded government activities deemed non-essential, from routine data collection to building maintenance.

Economic data releases were cancelled or delayed – and, more importantly, no new statistics on prices and jobs were collected, leaving policymakers with a data gap that could distort forecasts for months. 

The National Park Service kept many parks open but without daily cleaning or maintenance.

Federal rule-making at agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Securities and Exchange Commission also largely stopped, delaying regulations and enforcement actions.

Some federal employees also picked up another work task while they were away: accounting for the costs of the shutdown itself.

These can include interest on missed payments to contractors (or lost discounts for paying promptly), unplanned travel expenses to send staff home at the beginning of the shutdown, and loss of revenue from fees and permits. 

There is also the cost to the economy and US households.

So far, the toll has been steep: Analysts estimate that every week the shutdown dragged on cost the economy anywhere from US$10 billion (S$13 billion) to US$15 billion.

While back pay and halted federal spending can be reversed, economists say some costs from this record shutdown will never be recouped. BLOOMBERG