Senate Democrats were dealt a severe blow on Monday morning when the country’s largest federal workers union called for a swift end to the government shutdown.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a union representing more than 800,000 government workers, released an open letter calling on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his caucus to vote for a House-passed bipartisan spending bill to reopen the government. Schumer and a majority of Democrats have voted against a clean funding measure to reopen the government a dozen times — and will vote on a spending bill to end the shutdown for a 13th time as soon as Tuesday.
“It’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today,” AFGE national president Everett Kelley said in a statement. “No half measures, and no gamesmanship. Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today.”
“It’s long past time for our leaders to put aside partisan politics and embrace responsible government,” Kelley added. “A strong America requires a functioning government — one that pays its bills, honors its commitments, and treats its workforce with respect by paying them on time.”
The AFGE and other federal worker unions have long been seen as a core constituency of the Democratic Party. The union endorsed failed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2024. The AFGE has also been a vocal critic of Trump’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government.
Monday marks Day 27 of the government shutdown that continues to stretch on despite mounting financial distress for Americans who receive federal paychecks or depend on federal food aid programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The AFGE letter, first reported by NBC News, comes as a majority of federal workers missed their first full paycheck of the government shutdown on Friday. Many federal workers have taken up temporary jobs and turned to food banks to make up the lost income.
Just three Senate Democrats — John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia — voted for legislation to pay essential federal workers and military personnel during the shutdown on Thursday.
Funding for SNAP, which helps feed roughly 42 million Americans, is expected to lapse in at least 25 states this week barring an end to the government shutdown.
“Just open up the whole thing and just cut the shit,” Fetterman told reporters Thursday. “I don’t care about who’s winning, who’s losing, who’s going to blink.”
“They’re right,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said at a press conference on Monday, referring to the union’s statement. “It’s a national disgrace what Democrats are doing to good, hard working people, to women, infants, and children, who are just looking to this town to say, ‘What are these Democrats doing?’ What happened to your father’s Democrat Party?”
Senate Democrats, however, show few signs of relenting from their hardball tactics that have kept the government shuttered for one of the longest durations in American history. Schumer continues to demand an extension of expiring Obamacare subsidies — in addition to a bevy of costly left-wing priorities — in exchange for reopening the government.
Just three Democratic caucus members have crossed party lines to vote for the bipartisan spending measure. Republicans must get buy-in from an additional five Democrats in order to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for government funding bills and end the shutdown.
Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has consistently voted against the bipartisan funding measure, arguing the bill does not do enough to cut spending.
A spokesperson for Schumer did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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