BOISE, ID – After members of Congress failed to approve a funding bill late Tuesday night, the federal government began to partially shut down Wednesday.

Federal agencies and programs in most cases are not allowed to spend money without authorization from Congress. As the federal fiscal year expired at midnight Tuesday, the U.S. Senate Democrats and Republicans remained deadlocked on two dueling proposals that would have extended funding, the States Newsroom reported.

As a result, many federal workers and programs will be suspended until a funding plan is approved, with exceptions for the military, the Department of Homeland Security, and Transportation Security Administration and air traffic controllers — although these employees will be working without pay. Mail services and Social Security checks will continue, because they do not require annual funding.

There are around 14,387 civilian federal workers in Idaho, with the highest number in the southwestern region of the state, according to the Idaho Department of Labor. Across the nation, the Congressional Budget Office estimated 750,000 federal workers will be furloughed without pay. President Donald Trump and a top official have signaled some of the furloughs may become permanent mass layoffs.

How will health care and other public assistance be affected? 

Medicaid and Medicare payments should continue, although a mass furlough of staff may cause delays, CBS news reported.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officials wrote in its contingency plan it has sufficient funding to last until the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, which in total runs Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, 2026.

More than 300,000 Idahoans are enrolled in Medicaid, according to Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s budget request form this year.

Food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,Infants and Children, known as WIC, are also expected to continue, at least in the short-term. There are more than 130,000 Idahoans using SNAP benefits. There were more than 30,000 Idaho women and children using WIC services as of information shared by the department in March 2024.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture runs both food benefit programs. The agency’s contingency plan said that SNAP has enough funds to run through October. The National WIC Association told NBC News that the program has enough funding to continue for another week, after which the program would likely be suspended without more funding from the agriculture department.

A spokesperson for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, which administers these programs to Idaho residents, said the state agency anticipates “no reduction in SNAP or Medicaid benefits through the month of October.

“Idaho WIC clinics are currently open for business as usual,” Health and Welfare spokesperson AJ McWhorter said in an email. “We recommend WIC participants continue to attend appointments and purchase their food benefits as normal. WIC will let them know if anything changes.”

How will the Boise Airport operations be affected?

A spokesperson for Idaho’s largest airport, the Boise Airport, said the shutdown is not expected to have an immediate impact on its day-to-day operations.

Federal airport personnel are considered essential and will be expected to continue working without pay. During the last government shutdown, which lasted more than a month from December 2018 to January 2019, TSA personnel called out of work at an increased rate, ABC news reported at the time.

“We are working closely with our federal partners to maintain smooth operations and support the travel experience,” Boise Airport spokesperson Jennifer Kronberg said in an email. “The airport recommends arriving earlier than usual to give yourself enough time to go through the TSA security checkpoint in the event of staffing shortages.”

Will Head Start early learning programs be affected? 

The federally funded Head Start school readiness program will still receive grants, and programs should continue, Idaho Head Start Association Executive Director Megan Woller told the Sun.

The staff running Idaho’s programs are not federal employees, she noted.

Head Start provides preschool services to children aged 3 to 5 and their families, and Early Head Start works with families with children from birth to 3 years old.

“Assuming the shutdown doesn’t last too long, we are hopeful that programs themselves will not be too badly impacted if federal Office of Head Start employees are unavailable,” Woller said. “Fiscal Specialists and Grantee Specialists are federal employees assigned to the Head Start programs and at times, they assist the programs with very critical, time-sensitive business … If anything changes, families and staff will be made aware of their program.”

Idaho Republicans and Democrats blame the opposing party for shutdown 

As of Wednesday afternoon, Congress remained deadlocked among a deep partisan divide between stopgap funding proposals. Idaho’s Republican delegation largely blamed Democrats for the shutdown.

“Senate Democrats have rejected a clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government open to provide breathing room to make bipartisan progress on advancing regular appropriations bills,” Idaho U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo said in an emailed statement to the Idaho Capital Sun.

“Instead, they are demanding an unserious proposal that would increase government spending by a staggering $1 trillion and wipe out a vast majority of the savings Republicans have worked diligently to pass since the start of the Congress.  The Senate will keep voting to try to keep the government open–Democrats have the choice either to support a CR (Continuing Resolution) as they did 13 times under the previous Administration and keep the federal government fully operational, or pursue unreasonable political objectives.”

The U.S. Senate voted late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning on a House Republican-supported stopgap funding proposal that would have kept the government running for seven weeks.

The House proposal advanced Sept. 19 in a 217-212 vote, nearly along party lines. The Senate, which needed at least 60 votes to pass, voted 55-45 late Tuesday on the House Republican funding proposal, also nearly along party lines, with three Democrats joining Republicans in support.

Senators also voted 47-53 Tuesday on a Democratic proposal that would have extended funding for a month, renew health care premium subsidies, and restore Medicaid cuts approved in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Congressional democratic leaders have said they won’t support a plan that doesn’t extend the health care premium tax credit subsidies, which are set to expire and go toward lowering premiums on health insurance purchased through state marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act.

The health policy organization KFF estimated Idaho has roughly 100,600 enrollees in the health care premium tax credits, receiving an average credit of $407.

Idaho U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson also placed blame on Senate Democrats and Senate Minority Leader Democrat Chuck Schumer.

“Shutting down the government is bad politics and policy. Unfortunately, Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats are holding the funding hostage and pushed us into a government shutdown due to their far-left, unreasonable policy demands,” Simpson said in an emailed statement.

“Idahoans, like the majority of Americans, do not support their tax dollars paying for free health care to illegal aliens, stripping rural hospital funding, or increasing spending by nearly $1.5 trillion. The impacts of government shutdowns are extremely harmful, which is why I supported the clean CR to keep our government open, but the Democrats’ counterdemands would be much more harmful to our nation.”

The law prohibits federal health care — through Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, called CHIP — from being provided to immigrants in the country illegally. The Democrats’ funding proposal wouldn’t have changed that law, but would have restored benefits to noncitizens who had legal permission to be in the U.S., such as refugees, those under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and asylum seekers going through the legal process.

Idaho U.S. Sen. Jim Risch said in a written statement to the Sun, “Senator (Chuck) Schumer is pushing a ridiculous nearly nearly $1.5 trillion spending proposal that would raise taxes on working families, cut $50 billion for rural hospitals, and give illegal immigrants free health care. If Senate Democrats are serious about addressing the needs of Americans, they should stop catering to the far left and vote for Republican’s clean funding bill.”

Risch wrote on the social media platform X, that if Idahoans are in need of assistance with a federal agency to contact his office: https://risch.senate.gov/public/”

Idaho Rep. Russ Fulcher’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Idaho Democratic Party said in an emailed statement that while Republicans control the House, Senate and White House, the blame lay with the GOP.

“With all that power, they showed they can’t lead and don’t care to. Democrats fought to protect your health care, keep premiums from doubling for more than 100,000 Idahoans, and save our rural hospitals from devastating cuts,” Idaho Democratic Party Chair Lauren Necochea said in the statement. “Democrats fought to protect your health care, keep premiums from doubling for more than 100,000 Idahoans, and save our rural hospitals from devastating cuts. But Mike Simpson, Russ Fulcher, Jim Risch, and Mike Crapo stood with their party and turned their backs on Idaho families. Because of their choice, thousands of Idahoans will go without pay.”

This story first appeared on Idaho Capital Sun.