PSC Letter to Congressional Leaders re FY26 Shutdown
Sent on October 28, 2025

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Dear Majority Leader Thune, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Johnson, and Minority Leader Jeffries:

On behalf of the Professional Services Council (PSC), I am writing to express the government contractor community’s deepest concerns regarding the ongoing lapse in appropriations. I write also to emphasize the urgent need to ensure timely invoice payments for those companies who continue to support critical federal missions. This includes national security contractors that are repairing ships and aircrafts, providing vital information and communications technologies, supporting intelligence operations and analysis, and ensuring the safety and security of our nation and its citizens.

PSC is the leading trade association and voice of the government contracting industry, representing nearly 400 member companies—ranging in size from start-ups to multinational organizations—that support federal agencies through mission-focused services and solutions. Together, our companies employ over one million U.S. workers; and with both commercial and government income, their combined total revenue exceeds one trillion dollars annually.  

The consequences of this funding lapse extend far beyond administrative inconvenience—they directly undermine the readiness and resilience of our national security infrastructure. This lengthy shutdown is forcing federal contractors, who are critical partners in carrying out essential defense, intelligence, and homeland missions, to manage severe operational, financial, and workforce uncertainty. Key programs are already feeling the ripple effects of these disruptions, threatening not only mission execution but also long-term innovation and competitiveness as already-awarded work is hindered by lack of resources and future awards are in question.

We commend Senators Ron Johnson and Chris Van Hollen for their recent bipartisan efforts to ensure payment of federal employees and contractors during a government shutdown. These proposals represent a good-faith, short-term step to mitigate some of the harm caused by funding lapses. However, the only true solution to protecting our national defense, workforce, and industrial base is to reopen the federal government and enact full-year appropriations.

As you know, federal contractors play a critical role in executing the missions of the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Energy (DoE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Missile Defense Agency (MDA), U.S. Space Force, and intelligence community. The ongoing shutdown has already begun to erode critical national security capabilities and undermine the operational readiness of key civilian agencies. For example:

• Support to DoE / NNSA: Contractors manage the U.S. government’s nuclear complex, including cleanup of the Cold War legacy and modernization of the nuclear deterrent. These sites are projected to exhaust carryover funding within 2-4 weeks, forcing contractors to self-finance operations that cost as much as $10 million per week for a single site. As staffing reductions take effect, activities essential to nuclear safety and deterrent modernization may be halted, placing security and environmental safety at risk.
• Support to NASA’s Artemis Program: Contractors at multiple NASA centers continue “excepted” work to support the Artemis II launch preparation, including the successful stacking of the Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System at Kennedy Space Center. Yet without funding, contractors are working without pay; this threatens employees, subcontractors, and small business partners who cannot sustain operations without reimbursement and jeopardizes America’s leadership in space exploration and innovation.
• Support to the Space Force and Missile Defense Agency: Contractors are providing mission-essential services for space defense and missile protection systems. While operations continue under “excepted” status, the absence of payments destabilizes small businesses and subcontractors that underpin these programs. Once these companies are forced to furlough staff or halt operations, rebuilding lost expertise will take years.
• Support to the Intelligence Community: Contractors provide analysts and operational support for intelligence production (including the President’s Daily Brief), border security, and network defense. These activities are indispensable to national security. The inability to pay contractors performing these essential duties translates to immediate operational degradation.
• Military Platform Readiness: Shutdown disruptions reduce readiness across aviation, ground, and command, control, communications, computer, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C5ISR) platforms. Deferring maintenance, overhaul, and sustainment work only exacerbates readiness shortfalls and threatens the safety and capabilities of deployed forces.
• Pilot Training: The national pilot shortage—already a major concern—is worsening. Furloughs at training ranges and aircraft maintenance facilities have curtailed training operations, posing growing safety-of-flight risks for both military and commercial aviation.
• Defense Threat Reduction Agency: Support for mission critical activities (e.g., research and development work supporting outside-continental-United-States (OCONUS) operations and evaluation of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) threats to protect assets and operations both OCONUS and at home.
• Homeland Security and Public Safety: Critical missions like emergency communications, disaster preparedness and response, cybersecurity, and transportation security are all at risk from the lack of funding. Appropriations lapses make our information technology and physical infrastructure less secure and embolden adversaries to exploit vulnerabilities.

While PSC member companies recognize and appreciate recent legislative proposals to pay contractors during lapses in appropriations, such efforts are temporary remedies for a systemic issue. The longer the government remains shuttered, the greater the risks to national defense, industrial solvency, and the dedicated workforce supporting mission-essential operations.