While Donald Trump is waltzing around touting plans for an eloborate ballroom to match Versailles palace; thousands of Americans are on the brink of financial ruin and starvation.

USA Today – retrieved Internet 10/27/25: It’s now the second longest shutdown in history, and risks becoming the longest if it lasts until Election Day on Nov. 4. The longest shutdown ever lasted 35 days, from December 2018 to January 2019, during Trump’s first term.

More than 700,000 federal workers have been furloughed, while nearly as many workers are working without pay. Employees deemed essential to public safety, including military personnel, law enforcement officers, border patrol and air traffic controllers, are required to work regardless.

Will I still receive my Social Security check?

Yes, Social Security payments, including Supplemental Security Income and benefits for retirement, disability and survivors, continue during a government shutdown.

Because Social Security benefit programs are considered mandatory spending by law, they are not impacted by the lapse in funding appropriations. Payments are still distributed on a regular schedule during the shutdown.

Social Security offices are still open during the shutdown, but only some services are available.

States issue warning about heating concerns

Winter is certainly coming, but there’s no clear path yet to ending the government shutdown. In the meantime, states are sending out an SOS to keep millions of Americans from freezing soon.

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The National Energy Assistance Directors Association, representing state directors of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, said last week it’s urging electric and gas utilities nationwide to immediately suspend service disconnections for nonpayment until federal LIHEAP funds are released and households regain access to financial assistance.

The shutdown, which began Oct. 1 and is on pace to become the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, has delayed the release of energy aid, leaving some of the nation’s poorest families without the support they rely on to heat their homes as colder weather approaches, NEADA said. At the same time, electricity and natural gas prices have risen sharply, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/27/governm