The current shutdown has officially made history as the longest funding lapse the federal government has ever endured — and the impacts are widespread.

About 1.4 million federal employees who are either excepted or furloughed are on track to miss a second paycheck at the end of this week. Many federal services are shut down, and rising absences among excepted employees are leading to further delays and closures.

On top of that, the Trump administration has been threatening reductions in force and questioning the legal guarantee of back pay for furloughed workers. For many federal employees, it all makes the current lapse in appropriations unlike any other.

Recent research from the Partnership for Public Service found that about half of Americans are seeing the shutdown’s impacts firsthand in their communities, most commonly through travel delays and facility closures.

But Max Stier, the Partnership’s president and CEO, said even bigger harms from the shutdown will be felt for the long-haul.

“Our future capacity is going to be diminished substantially,” Stier told reporters during a press briefing Wednesday. “You’re going to see that across the board, whether you talk about air traffic controllers or VA doctors or food inspectors. So many of the functions of our government are highly skilled professionals that require long-term investment.”

In the wake of setting the record for the longest-ever shutdown, some organizations are turning the conversation toward the need for long-term reforms in the appropriations process, and the need for better governing in the future.

The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), a congressionally chartered non-profit that focuses on government management reforms, urged Congress to pass legislation to modernize what’s become a dated budget process for the federal government.

“Good government depends on strong leadership that can effectively manage the federal budget,” James-Christian Blockwood, NAPA’s president and CEO, said Wednesday.

To avoid future harms of shutdowns, NAPA also called for lawmakers to consider changing the timing of the budget cycle in government, as well as requiring Congress to stay in session until appropriations are enacted.

“This shutdown represents a failure in our budget process at a time when public trust in government is already unacceptably low,” Blockwood said. “This cannot and should not continue.”

There have been at least some attempts in Congress this year to end the possibility of shutdowns once and for all. In September, lawmakers introduced various bills, including the Eliminate Shutdowns Act, the Government Shutdown Prevention Act and the End Government Shutdowns Act. Each would operate slightly differently, but all aim to force Congress into a continuing resolution, rather than a shutdown, in the absence of a spending agreement.

Stier said that type of change would “encourage members to actually come together and do their work … and not make those who have no responsibility for [a shutdown] bear the significant price.”

“No other country does it this way — and it’s not a compliment,” he added.

Reforming pay for federal employees under funding lapses has also become a key part of the shutdown conversation. Although both furloughed and excepted federal employees are supposed to be ensured back pay under a 2019 law, the Office of Management and Budget has called into question whether furloughed employees are automatically guaranteed that compensation. Many lawmakers, attorneys and unions harshly criticized the administration’s new position, and said the law was clear in its intent.

When asked again this week if the Trump administration would guarantee back pay for furloughed employees, as required by the 2019 law, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not provide a definitive answer.

“This is something we are very much open to discussing with Democrats, as part of the discussions about the continuing resolution to keep the government open,” Leavitt told reporters Tuesday. “It’s something that Republicans are talking with Democrats about right now.”

Another possibility for long-term reform includes paying federal employees immediately, even throughout a shutdown, rather than only paying them once a funding lapse ends. Stier said back pay should already be guaranteed for all federal employees, but immediate pay would be the better solution.

“There is no other workforce in our country that has that burden to bear, and they should not have to bear it,” Stier said.

In October, lawmakers introduced various proposals attempting to immediately pay federal employees while the shutdown continues. But due to disagreements over the inclusion of furloughed employees, as well as whether to prevent the administration from conducting RIFs, the legislation failed in the Senate. Congressional aides have confirmed that bipartisan discussions on the legislation remain ongoing, but progress is unclear.

Other areas that may be ripe for change include the possibility of withholding pay for members of Congress during a shutdown, as well as requiring Congress to remain in session until lawmakers reach an agreement on appropriations.

Regardless, whenever the current shutdown does end, and hundreds of thousands of federal employees return to work, Stier said it will be a return to high workloads and low morale for many.

“We are seeing a layer cake of trauma, incident after incident that [federal employees are] all experiencing,” Stier said. “As a result, many talented people have already thrown in the towel, and many more are likely to do so.”

The post As shutdown hits record length, many fear long-term impacts first appeared on Federal News Network.