Social Security: You Need To Know About Government Shutdown 2023

The US government is threatening a government shutdown this week, leaving people wondering how Social Security would be affected and how a government shutdown can affect you.

Government Shutdown: What To Know? [Photo: NBC News]

How A Government Shutdown Can Affect You?

SOURCE– US lawmakers have until Saturday to reach a deal to keep much of the government open. If they fail, the US will head into one of the largest government shutdowns in history. Earlier this year, a group of Republican hard-liners in the House refused to raise the nation’s debt ceiling until Pres. Biden and the Democratic-controlled Senate agreed to steep spending cuts.

The threat of a government shutdown forced Biden to negotiate with Speaker Kevin McCarthy, they both agreed to a spending cap for the upcoming 2024 budget year, which begins on October 1. This week, McCarthy and other House Republicans said they want Pres. Biden to agree on border restrictions. Representative August Pfluger said that if Biden wants to keep the government open, he needs to shut down the border. Due to a possible government shutdown, many workers will stop getting paid, including the military. If a government shutdown continues, the first possible missed paycheck would be on Oct. 13 for many workers.

SOURCE– What happens to Social Security in a government shutdown? Beneficiaries will continue to receive their checks even if the government shutdown continues. The agency said that they will continue activities critical to direct-service operations and those needed to ensure accurate and timely payment of benefits. Other services will continue including:

• Application for benefits
• Requests for appeals
• Payee changes
• Direct contact reinstatement of benefits
• Issuance of original and replacement Social Security cards
• Initial claims
• Assistance requests for hearings

Services set to be paused during government shutdown including:

• Benefit verifications
• Overpayments processing
• Earnings record corrections and updates
• Replacement Medicare cards
• Payee accountings
• IT enhancement activities, public relations, training
• Prisoner activities–suspension
• Freedom of Information Act requests
• Requests from third parties for queries

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