In Case of Shutdown, Military, Some Civilians, Will Report to Work

While still hoping to be spared a shutdown, Defense Department officials are making plans should the government close over the fiscal 2011 budget impasse, a senior Pentagon official said April 8 in Washington D.C.

"We are a country of laws, and if we go through a government shutdown, we will follow the laws," the official said on background, according to an article by Jim Garamone of Armed Forces Press Services.

Without an appropriations act, the department cannot disperse funds except for very narrow exceptions for safety of life and protection of property, the article states.

"Based on these exceptions, we can maintain key national security functions—the war in Afghanistan, the transition in Iraq, Libya operations and humanitarian operations in Japan, and other key national security missions," the official, whose name was not published, said in the article.

Military personnel are considered to be  "excepted" if the government is closed and will report to work. Not all civilians will report to work, though, according to the article. Only those in excepted positions will work, the article states.

"All others will be placed on no-notice, non-paid furlough status," the official said in the article. "We estimate about 400,000 civilians will be furloughed."

A shutdown would cause pay issues, the official said, noting the April 15 military pay day would have only half a paycheck.

"We will be able to pay the military retroactively once we get an appropriation," he said in the article. "But in the meantime, it's tough on men and women in the military. They have kids to feed, car payments to make and mortgages to pay like we all do."

To read the full article, including when military will be paid, visit DOD Officials Detail Closure Effects, Plans.