Veteran Cemeteries will continue with burials. . . but what is open and closed on a government shutdown

September 29, 2025/Business, Regulations/

Tomorrow is the last day of the federal government’s fiscal year. That is not necessarily a big deal except that the new federal budget year begins on Wednesday and as I write this on Sunday no agreement to fund the federal government of the United States is in place moving forward. If there is no agreement on how to fund the government, then the government will shut down with only “essential services” continuing to operate.

While threatened many times over the past several years, we have not had a government shutdown in the United States for 7 years.

The good news in all of this is that “business generally grinds on”. Private businesses continue to operate and in the funeral home business where the federal government intersects with funeral homes — at least in the National Veteran Cemetery operations — those operations are considered “essential”.

Here is a Veterans Administration “contingency planning” document that was released in anticipation of a federal government shutdown. From the VA cemetery side of things here’s what I believe funeral directors would need to know:

Burials will continue at VA national cemeteries.
Applications for headstones, markers, and burial benefits will continue to be processed.

And, here’s a couple of things that will not be moving forward:

The VA will not permanently place headstones or maintain the grounds at national cemeteries.
The VA will not process applications for pre-need burials.

Thoughts on a potential government shutdown — On Friday of last week the Yahoo Finance Morning Brief had a short overview on their thoughts about the looming government shutdown. I found it a pretty fair observation of what the United States is facing and why we may actually see a government shutdown for the first time in seven years. The following is an exerpt from that article:

It’s hard to believe, but we’ve made it almost seven years without a government shutdown. That shutdown happened during President Trump’s first term. And it was the longest in US history.

Ever since, throughout the rest of Trump’s first term and under former President Joe Biden, we’ve been in a perennial state of “will they, won’t they,” and for the most part investors and the market have become desensitized to the drama after a string of last-minute compromises to avert the self-inflicted wound.

But we’re here to tell you that this time really could be different. It will (again, probably) actually matter, even with the usual caveats: Past shutdowns have represented a modest hit to economic growth, and little if any longer-term pain for markets, which rightfully don’t typically care.

The first reason it will matter is that — stop us if you’ve heard this before — it looks all but certain to happen. The government will enter a partial shutdown just after midnight on Wednesday, Oct. 1, and both Trump/Republicans and Democrats are digging in on their respective positions. Moreover, as Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul has outlined, both parties see some political upside.

Democrats are holding firm on a demand to include an extension of expiring healthcare subsidies, in an attempt to head off a surge in Obamacare-related insurance premiums.

Trump initially appeared open to negotiations with Democratic leaders this week, then abruptly scrapped a planned White House meeting. The administration then upped the ante by making good on a threat Democrats were concerned about earlier this year: The White House, in a memo, asked federal agencies to explore mass firings if the government shuts down, particularly in programs deemed “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”

That raises the stakes — not only for Trump’s continued bid to reshape the government in his image, but for the US labor market as a whole. The federal workforce has been shrinking this year, part of a broader slowdown in the jobs market.