The 2025 Federal Government Shutdown

Policy Update from National NASW published on October 21st, 2025.

The 2025 government shutdown is entering the fourth week, setting course to become one of the longest shutdowns in American history. Congress remains at an impasse. The House has been out of session for more than a month since passing their partisan version of the budget. While the Speaker of the House continues to encourage its members to stay in district, they are losing valuable committee work time as well as playing a lose-lose game with the future of America’s economic health. Meanwhile, the Senate has been in session trying and failing to pass the House version of the bill, needing Democrats to pass the bill.

The inaction and lack of federal funding will cause irreparable damage to individuals, families, and communities. Numerous federally funded programs are running out of money and when they do, they will have to make difficult decisions. Below is an outlook for a plethora of programs that, if the shutdown continues, will be severely impacted.

• The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
  • WIC programs were about to run out of money but received $300 million from redistributed funds from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The influx of money will allow many programs to maintain their current level of operations through the rest of October. According to the National WIC Association, this impermanent slution “puts the health and nutrition of millions of pregnant women, new mothers, and young children in jeopardy.” If state-run programs run out of funding, nearly 7 million pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women as well as infants and children no older than five will be unable to afford nutritious food and formula that keeps them healthy and fed.
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
  • President Trump’s administration warned that the program has insufficient funds for the program to function, and the USDA doubled down by releasing a memo that gave states until November 1 to implement steep cuts. The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) stated that the sweeping changes “will lead to unnecessary chaos and confusion in the midst of widespread uncertainty, record inflation, and a government shutdown.” Without federal intervention, over 41 million people across the country will lose the one major tool they have to fight food insecurity and will be forced to choose between paying for necessities like housing, transportation, healthcare, and food.
• Student Loan Borrowing and Repayment
  • The Department of Education will not experience interruptions. There will be no pause in student loan repayments and loans are still eligible for default. The ongoing negotiated rulemaking process also continued with in-person meetings. The Office of Federal Student Aid released operating plans in the event of a government shutdown that detail the limited interruptions that will be experienced by students, parents, borrowers, and schools. According to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, “Income Driven Repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness application processing is paused during the shutdown.” Student loans will continue to be processed, and Direct Loan promissory note applications will continue to be processed and accepted from schools.
• Head Start
  • The National Head Start Association warns that a gvernment shutdown threatens to disrupt services for tens of thousands of children and families who rely on Head Start. “As of October 16, six programs serving 6,525 children are already operating without federal funding. By November 1, another 134 programs across 41 states and Puerto Rico will face the same spending issues.” Head Start programs have been forced to operate with a five percent cut due to inflation thanks to flat federal funding since FY24 and now without appropriations, programs will be forced to make disastrous decisions that will impact thousands of families who rely on services.
• Meals on Wheels
  • 90 percent of programs rely on federal funding and for more than 60 percent of those programs, that funding is half or more of their total budget. These programs operate on razor thin margins and have limited reserve funds to use in emergencies like a shutdown. According to the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs, “any delay in receiving federal funding reimbursements for meals and services delivered could force them to halt meal services, add to already long waitlists, scale back delivery days or close their doors entirely.”  Over 2 million seniors are served by Meals on Wheels each year.
• Social Security
  • While local Social Security offices remain open, the services provided will be reduced. Hearings offices will remain open and Social Security and Supplemental Security Income payments will continue without payment date changes. Individuals will be unable to replace Medicare cards, issue proof of income letters, or update or correct earnings records in person but online services will remain open.
• Healthcare
  • Healthcare is at the center of this government shutdown. Specifically at issue is the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits, without which at least 4 million people would lose their healthcare coverage. Currently, Medicaid, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act plans will continue to work but some benefits may be unavailable and fewer government workers will be available to help with the millions who receive care in these programs. These programs are mandatory, and they will continue to run, even in the midst of a shutdown.
  • Telehealth
    • One popular Medicare benefit is telehealth services. These have currently expired because the pandemic-era flexibilities lapsed because their extension was part of the failed continuing resolution.  NASW posted a Policy Update and Tips and Tools regarding telehealth flexibilities.

For each of these state-run programs, the best, most up-to-date information will come from their state entity instead of the federal government. Each individual state is responsible for their budget and is making adjustments to continue serving the most individuals and families possible.

While NASW chapters are tracking the funding lapse and shutdown closely and working with coalition partners to determine the impact in states as the shutdown continues, the national policy team is collaborating with coalition partners to communicate concerns of a continued shutdown with members of Congress and encouraging them to work together toward a solution that benefits all Americans.