Do FBI agents come off the streets?
According to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform –citing the Department of Justice FY2014 Contingency Plan – “all FBI agents and support personnel in the field are considered excepted from furlough. …At FBI headquarters, the excepted personnel will provide direction and investigative support to all field operations and excepted headquarters functions… .”
Do CIA officers get paid?
Using past shutdown experience as a guide, the Committee on House Oversight and Government Reform anticipates that most CIA officers would be considered excepted employees and continue to work during a shutdown. Consistent with OMB’s September 17, 2013 memo, “Without further specific direction or enactment by Congress, all excepted employees are entitled to receive payment for obligations incurred by their agencies for their performance of excepted work during the period of the appropriations lapse. After appropriations are enacted, payroll centers will pay all excepted employees for time worked.”
Do computer operated government systems shut down? Do local law enforcement still have access to Federal databases? Does the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) remain available so that firearm purchases would not be interrupted?
It is the understanding of the House Committee on Homeland Security that state and local law enforcement would continue to have access to federal law enforcement databases for homeland security oriented issues and access to the government systems that support them. DHS has not yet provided the Committee specific information on these issues.
Are FEMA and disaster assistance affected?
Disaster assistance would likely not be affected because the Disaster Relief Fund which funds disaster operations is categorized as “no year money.” Some grants could be impacted as grantees will not be able to draw down funds for Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response (SAFER), Assistance to Firefighter Grants (AFG), or Fire Prevention and Safety grants because these rely on manual processes that will not be staffed during a lapse in appropriations.
