A view of the snow covered streets as heavy snowfall blanketed Washington, D.C. on Jan. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Celal Gunes | Anadolu | Getty Images<\/p>\n
The U.S. government is on the brink of a partial shutdown<\/a> beginning at 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday in large part because of a second recent killing of a U.S. citizen<\/a> by federal agents in Minneapolis. It would be different than last year’s shutdown.<\/p>\n The killing of Alex Pretti<\/a>, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, has galvanized fierce Senate<\/a> Democratic opposition to a House-passed measure providing funding for the Department of Homeland Security<\/a> and a slew of other agencies. The more-than-$1.2 trillion package cleared the House of Representatives last week and accounts for the bulk of government spending for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.<\/p>\n Democratic support<\/a> will be required to pass the bill, which needs 60 votes to avert the filibuster in the Senate that Republicans<\/a> control 53-47. Democrats are demanding the DHS portion be stripped in exchange for their votes, something Republicans have signaled they will not do.<\/p>\n If the Senate alters the bill at all, it would have to be reapproved by the House, which is out on a prescheduled recess and has not announced plans to return before the deadline. <\/p>\n In addition to DHS, the bill would fund the departments of\u00a0Defense, Treasury, State, Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Education.<\/p>\n Should the bill not pass by the Friday night deadline, those agencies would be deprived of funding and enter a shutdown posture \u2014 meaning “nonessential” employees would be furloughed and “essential” employees would work without pay. Spending bills that President Donald Trump<\/a> already signed would keep the rest of the government open. <\/p>\n “Activities that are necessary to protect life and property continue, although the workers in those functions may not be paid while they are working,” said Caleb Quakenbush, associate director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “Agencies have a lot of discretion in terms of who is essential and at what period.” <\/p>\n Agencies typically release contingency plans before a shutdown. So far, the agencies at risk of losing funding have not publicly released their plans. <\/p>\n Certain government functions like Social Security payments and Medicare and Medicaid services typically continue during a shutdown, Quakenbush said. The bill that reopened the government last year included funding for the Department of Agriculture through the fiscal year, meaning the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will not see a disruption as it did last year. <\/p>\n Read more CNBC politics coverage<\/p>\n There are still a number of services that could see disruptions. A shutdown at the end of the week would be the first during tax season, which began Monday. <\/p>\n The Internal Revenue Service is among the agencies that would lose funding during a shutdown. Last year, the agency remained open in some capacity during the shutdown but did have to wind down some operations as the shutdown dragged on.<\/p>\n