What’s an Essential Worker (or Activity)? No October CPI, Employment Release, but We Get a Hole Where the East Wing Used to Be

I hear that no government funds (allegedly) were used to fund demolition of the East Wing of the White House (which raises a completely separate legal question of whether donations can be used for government operations), but really, the Administration couldn’t be bothered to call in BLS workers so we would know where the economy was going?

from OMB (Sept 28, 2025):

1. Who are “excepted” employees?
A. In the context of shutdown furloughs, the term “excepted” is used broadly to
refer to employees whose work is funded through annual appropriations but who
are not furloughed because they are performing tasks that, by law, are allowed to
continue during a lapse in appropriations. Those tasks are referred to as “excepted
work.” Such tasks may include emergency work involving the safety of human life
or the protection of property or the performance of certain other types of “excepted
work activities” as defined in DOJ and OMB guidance.

In addition to emergency work involving the safety of human life or the protection
of property, work performed “by necessary implication” as described in DOJ and
OMB guidance is considered to be excepted work. For example, an employee’s
performance of authorized orderly shutdown activities (as described in OMB and
DOJ guidance) is considered excepted work. In addition, work necessary to
implement a funded function, where the suspension of such work during the lapse
would prevent or significantly damage the execution of the terms of the applicable
statutory authorization or appropriation is considered “excepted work” (e.g.,
cutting the checks for a benefit program for which funding remains available
during the lapse and from which the law requires payments to be made).

Well, if the Administration could call back some workers to generate the September CPI release (figures used for the Social Security COLA) , why not the October CPI release? You might ask what lives or property hinge on the monthly CPI? Gee, maybe Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). Is this a minor market? Current outstanding amount of TIPS is $1.6 trillion…