The Interior Department will furlough about half of its 58,600 employees during the federal government’s shutdown, while staffers expected to be on the clock include those focused on the Trump administration’s energy priorities and developing the budget.
Interior published its 16 contingency plans just hours ahead of the midnight expiration for fiscal 2025 funding, detailing immediate leave for more than 29,000 employees across the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and other agencies.
The late Tuesday publication of the contingency plans still left many Interior employees in the dark as to their particular fate as they entered the department’s headquarters Wednesday morning at 18th and C streets in Washington.
“No one is really confident that they can make plans, so I think we’re all just treading water in the dark,” said one longtime Interior employee. Employees were granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the public.
