Government ‘shutdown’? Most of the government would keep functioning and furloughed workers are paid back

Most of the government, including giant spending programs, would stay open in a government shutdown, and furloughed workers would be paid back, as they have after previous lapses in spending.

Pete Kasperowicz is a politics editor at Fox News Digital. He can be reached at Peter.Kasperowicz@Fox.com and his Twitter handle is @PeteKDCNews.

First, most federal spending consists of what Washington calls "mandatory spending." This includes giant spending programs that affect millions of people, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, income security programs, veteran and federal retirement benefits and others.

These mandatory programs are not at risk in a government shutdown – Social Security checks will still arrive on time. These programs account for the vast majority of what the government spends each year.