Hundreds of thousands of feds face furloughs

A senior Obama administration official on Wednesday said hundreds of thousands of federal employees potentially could be furloughed during a government shutdown.

"I don't have a specific number to point to at this point," said the official, who cited the approximately 800,000 furloughed employees during the 1995 and 1996 shutdowns as a guide to how many people would be affected if the government goes on hiatus Friday. The official spoke during a conference call with reporters.

The number of actual employees affected will vary from previous shutdowns, the official said. For example, the Veterans Affairs Department will remain open, unlike during the fiscal 1996 shutdown, when many VA services were curtailed. And the Homeland Security Department, which was not in existence during the last government shutdown, will continue to provide critical national security programs. Social security checks for seniors and people with disabilities would still go out as well. Medicare also will be funded during a temporary hiatus, but if the shutdown stretches into months, the coffers will run dry, the official said.

Service members will be paid through April 8, but similar to other government workers, they would not receive a pay check during a shutdown but would be paid retroactively when Congress appropriates the funds -- unless legislation to protect some military personnel and their families from a pay delay is successful.

Click here for important information in this week's Pay and Benefits Watch column on how a government shutdown would affect your compensation.