What Happens to Social Security in a Government Shutdown?

Congress has until midnight on Sept. 30 to reach an agreement on a federal budget for the 2026 fiscal year or pass a stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded. If lawmakers miss that deadline, it will trigger a partial government shutdown.

But even if the federal government does shut down, Social Security recipients will continue getting their monthly payments.

In federal parlance, Social Security benefits are “mandatory spending.” They have a dedicated, permanent funding source (primarily, the payroll taxes most of us pay on our work income) and are unaffected by the federal appropriations process.

However, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is not immune to the shutdown threat. Its administrative budget is discretionary, meaning it’s subject to annual congressional approval. Lawmakers determine how much of Social Security’s revenue can go toward operating expenses, such as processing benefit applications, renting space for local offices and paying employees’ salaries.

The current budget law, which expires Sept. 30, maintained 2024 spending levels for most federal agencies. The shutdown threat comes as SSA is reducing its staff by 12 percent, from about 57,000 employees to 50,000. The agency currently has about 51,800 workers, according to its shutdown contingency plan.

Shutdown plan

The shutdown blueprint, most recently updated on Sept. 24, 2025, states that the agency “will continue activities critical to our direct-service operations and those needed to ensure accurate and timely payment of benefits.”

In the event of a shutdown, which most recently occurred over the winter of 2018-19, the SSA “will follow the contingency plan for continued activities, and Social Security beneficiaries would continue receiving their Social Security, Social Security Disability Insurance [SSDI] and SSI payments,” an agency spokesperson says.

SSI is Supplemental Security Income, a safety-net benefit administered by the Social Security Administration for people with very low incomes who are 65 or older or have a disability or severe visual impairment. Unlike Social Security retirement, survivor and family benefits and SSDI, SSI is funded out of general government revenues, not the dedicated payroll tax.

Payroll tax revenue will continue to be collected and go into the trust funds that supply money to cover Social Security benefits. The SSA says it has legal authority to process payments even if congressional appropriations lapse.

Under the shutdown plan, approximately 45,600 SSA employees, or 88 percent of the agency’s workforce, will remain on the job to maintain essential functions and services, including paying benefits, staffing field offices, processing benefit applications and appeals, holding disability hearings, and issuing new and replacement Social Security cards.

Some Social Security services and activities could be suspended in the immediate aftermath of a shutdown, among them benefit verifications, processing overpayments, information-technology improvements, public relations and training.