The Antideficiency Act exceptions are the narrow categories of federal work that may continue during a funding lapse: activities addressing emergencies that involve the safety of human life or the protection of government property, activities funded by appropriations that have not lapsed, and activities another statute independently authorizes. Everything outside those categories stops until Congress acts. The statutory hook for the emergency exception is 31 U.S.C. § 1342, and the “authorized by law” exception sits in 31 U.S.C. § 1341.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 U.S.C. 1342 – Limitation on Voluntary Services
Emergencies Involving the Safety of Human Life
This is the exception invoked most often and the one that keeps the most people on the job. Section 1342 lets an agency accept services during a lapse “for emergencies involving the safety of human life.”1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 U.S.C. 1342 – Limitation on Voluntary Services The work has to involve an active response to a near-term threat, not general mission importance.
In practice, that means law enforcement stays in the field. The FBI treats virtually all agents and field support personnel as excepted, and the DEA keeps field agents working to maintain counternarcotics investigations.2U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. Department of Justice FY 2026 Contingency Plan Air traffic controllers remain at their screens. Correctional officers in the Bureau of Prisons, which houses more than 150,000 people across 122 facilities, are designated as excepted and required to report for duty without pay. The Coast Guard continues search and rescue.
Federal medical care also falls under this exception. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 97 percent of its workforce keeps working during a shutdown, with VA medical centers, outpatient clinics, and Vet Centers open and providing all services as usual.3U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Contingency Planning
Protecting Government Property
The same subsection of § 1342 authorizes continued work to protect government property, and agencies read that phrase broadly to cover federal buildings, military bases, public lands, classified materials, and information systems.
Security personnel remain posted at courthouses and sensitive installations. Federal wildland firefighting continues; the USDA Forest Service explicitly designates fire suppression, including all necessary equipment costs, as an excepted activity to protect life and property.4United States Department of Agriculture. USDA Forest Service Contingency Plan for Agency Close Down Procedures Emergency repair crews may keep working on federal dams or power infrastructure when failure would cause significant property damage.
Cybersecurity and IT Systems
White House guidance directs agencies to maintain cybersecurity functions across all information technology systems during a lapse, because leaving those systems unmonitored would create an imminent threat to federal property. Patch management, security operations center capabilities, and incident response teams stay running at the minimum staffing necessary to keep systems functional and secure.5The White House. Frequently Asked Questions During a Lapse in Appropriations Websites may remain online if shutting them down would raise cybersecurity risk, though non-security content updates can be suspended.
Military and National Security Operations
Active-duty service members continue working during a shutdown, going without pay until funding resumes. Beyond the general life-and-property exception, the President has separate authority under 10 U.S.C. § 2201 to exempt military appropriations from normal apportionment when national defense requires it, and the Secretary of Defense can authorize additional active-duty personnel beyond appropriated levels, treating those costs as excepted expenses. The Secretary must immediately notify Congress whenever this authority is used.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 U.S.C. 2201 – Apportionment of Funds: Authority for Exemption; Excepted Expenses
Defense Department guidance allows contractors supporting excepted defense activities to continue work, and the Department may enter new contracts for supplies and services if delay would create an imminent risk to life or property, including national security.7Department of Defense. Guidance for Continuation of Operations During a Lapse in Appropriations
Programs Funded Outside Annual Appropriations
Not every federal function depends on the annual spending bills that trigger shutdowns. GAO confirms that activities with available appropriations may continue during a lapse, including programs drawing on multi-year or no-year appropriation carryover balances and activities funded by fee income that Congress made available outside the annual appropriations process.8U.S. Government Accountability Office. Shutdowns/Lapses in Appropriations
Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income payments continue on schedule during a shutdown, with no change in payment dates, because the underlying funding is mandatory rather than annually appropriated.9Social Security Administration. What the Federal Government Shutdown Means to Your Clients Fee-funded agencies occupy a similar position. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office operates on user fees and draws on operating reserves from prior-year fee collections; during the 35-day partial shutdown in 2018–2019, the USPTO remained open and fully operational. Parts of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services also continue operating as long as their fee-based funding holds.
Two Attorney General opinions issued by Benjamin Civiletti in 1980 and 1981 identified three sub-categories of work that may continue under the “authorized by law” exception in what is now 31 U.S.C. § 1341: activities funded by multi-year or no-year appropriations, activities authorized by statutes that expressly permit obligations before appropriations are enacted, and activities necessarily implied by specific duties Congress has imposed on an agency.10U.S. Department of Energy. Applicability of the Antideficiency Act Upon a Lapse in an Agency’s Appropriations That third category is narrow and depends on whether Congress would have intended the function to continue despite a funding gap.
How Agencies Decide Who Is Excepted
The Civiletti opinions also set the test for excepting individual employees under § 1342. There must be a reasonable connection between the work and the safety of human life or protection of property, and there must be a reasonable likelihood that safety or property would actually be compromised by delaying that work.10U.S. Department of Energy. Applicability of the Antideficiency Act Upon a Lapse in an Agency’s Appropriations Important work is not enough. The threat has to be specific and near-term.
Agency heads must justify each excepted position by showing that suspending the work would create a tangible, near-term risk, and legal counsel within each department reviews staffing plans against that standard. Routine administration, long-term policy work, and most clerical roles do not qualify. Designations happen before the lapse begins, and managers typically issue formal letters to excepted staff explaining their obligation to report for duty without current pay.
Orderly Shutdown Time
Furloughed employees get a limited window to wrap up. OPM guidance allows up to four hours of orderly shutdown activities, typically on the first scheduled workday after the lapse begins, covering tasks like receiving a furlough notice, submitting timekeeping data, and securing files.11U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Special Instructions for Agencies Affected by a Possible Lapse in Appropriations Starting on October 1, 2025 Any shutdown activities exceeding half a day require written justification to OMB.12The White House (Archives). FAQ During a Lapse in Appropriations No regular agency work happens during this window; once shutdown tasks are done, the employee goes home until the lapse ends or they are recalled.
Limits That Still Apply Under an Exception
Invoking an exception does not open the spending floodgates. Every dollar an excepted activity obligates has to link directly to the life-safety or property-protection task at hand. New office supplies, non-emergency travel, and discretionary projects remain off-limits.13U.S. Government Accountability Office. Antideficiency Act
Contracts follow a parallel logic. A contractor performing under a contract awarded before appropriations expired may continue working up to the limit of funds already obligated on that contract, whether or not the activity is excepted. Agencies cannot issue new contracts, exercise options, extend existing deals, or add incremental funding unless the contractor is supporting an excepted activity.7Department of Defense. Guidance for Continuation of Operations During a Lapse in Appropriations Stop-work orders become necessary when a contract needs new funding and does not support excepted work, or when the federal employees needed to oversee it are furloughed.
Penalties for Misapplying an Exception
Labeling work as excepted when it does not meet the Civiletti standards is itself an Antideficiency Act problem. An employee who violates the Act faces administrative discipline up to and including suspension without pay or removal from office.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 U.S.C. 1349 – Adverse Personnel Actions If the violation was knowing and willful, criminal penalties apply: fines up to $5,000, imprisonment up to two years, or both.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 U.S.C. 1350 – Criminal Penalty
When a violation is identified, the agency head must immediately report the facts and any corrective actions to the President (through OMB), the Speaker of the House, the President of the Senate, and the Comptroller General at GAO. Reports must include the account involved, the amount, the positions of responsible employees, disciplinary actions taken, and whether the violation was knowing and willful. If willful intent is found, the agency must confirm referral to the Department of Justice.16Office of Management and Budget. Section 145 – Requirements for Reporting Antideficiency Act Violations GAO follows up after publishing a decision that a violation occurred, and notifies Congress directly if the agency fails to report within a reasonable period.13U.S. Government Accountability Office. Antideficiency Act