Refusing to talk healthcare, GOP shuts down government

Labor calls on the Trump administration, Republican-led congress to fund the government, fix the healthcare crisis, and put working people first

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 1, 2025) — The federal government shut down at 12:01 a.m. eastern time, furloughing thousands of employees, interrupting essential public services, and sowing chaos in the lives of working people across the U.S. Here in Washington state, the scope of disruption is still being determined. But amid the uncertainty, one thing is clear; this harm in the lives of working families could have been avoided.

Congressional democrats had been pushing for negotiations over expiring tax credits that helped keep healthcare coverage accessible, recognizing that even with subsidies, health insurance costs eat into many working families’ budgets. Without these tax credits, four million Americans would lose coverage, and 20 million more would likely see costs rise. Democrats are also holding out to reverse cuts to Medicaid and other health programs included in H.R. 1, which is projected to rip healthcare coverage from another 10 million people to give tax breaks to billionaires and corporations. Even the 179 million workers who receive health insurance through their employer or thanks to collectively-bargained agreements would likely face cost increases due to Republican healthcare policies.

Rather than negotiate a path to keep healthcare costs from spiking, the Trump administration has threatened to fire even more federal workers, using working people as a bargaining chip rather than seeking to protect the livelihoods of working families.

“The consequences of this shut-down lie at the feet of the anti-worker politicians who refused to negotiate a compromise that would keep healthcare costs from spiraling out of control for working families,” said Washington State Labor Council President April Sims. “The Republican-led Congress can pass the big billionaire bill to give tax breaks to corporations and the ultra-wealthy, but can’t figure out how to keep the government going, choosing instead to play political games with working peoples’ livelihoods and pocketbooks. For many Washington families, the chaos caused by this failure may be devastating.”

The Trump administration has not provided in advance the detailed information typically put forth by the federal government detailing what public services may be impacted by a shutdown, leaving the complete picture of impacts to Washington and the nation unclear. Social Security retirement and disability payments, SNAP and other nutrition support services, disaster response, and unemployment benefits should all continue. Other vital services, like data-collection, rule-making, investigations of civil rights violations, and some OSHA investigations are now in limbo. Many federal workers, furloughed or working without pay in the midst of an affordability crisis, will struggle to make ends meet. Almost 60,000 federal workers in Washington state will go without paychecks. And should the shutdown drag on or should public servants be fired, the long term consequences for the public services that working people rely on are still unknown.

“Washington’s labor movement is deeply concerned about the impacts of this shutdown on working families across our state,” said Cherika Carter, WSLC Secretary Treasurer. “The WSLC will be working with our affiliated unions and partners to identify impacts and provide support to help our communities navigate the chaos sowed by anti-worker politicians in D.C.”

Nationally, organized labor denounced the political games fueling the shutdown.

A graphic from the New York Times details the hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed. Source: www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/09/30/us/politics/government-shutdown-furloughs.html

“It’s not Washington politicians who are at risk here—it’s working people just like us, more than 80% of whom live outside D.C. and 30% are veterans,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler in a statement. “These are the people who get our Social Security checks out on time, keep our food and water safe, care for our veterans, and protect us at airports and during natural disasters. Under the administration’s Project 2025/DOGE agenda, federal workers have been fired, rehired and fired again. They’ve been stripped of their collective bargaining rights and union contracts. Now, President Trump is shutting down the government, using federal workers as pawns and threatening to illegally fire them—all to avoid fixing the mounting health care cost crisis that will hurt millions of Americans.”

Shuler continued: “The labor movement’s message to the administration is clear: Get to work. Fund the government. Fix the health care crisis. Put working people first.”

Yesterday, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s threats of a mass firing of federal employees.

“Announcing plans to fire potentially tens of thousands of federal employees simply because Congress and the administration are at odds on funding the government past the end of the fiscal year is not only illegal – it’s immoral and unconscionable,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley in a statement. “Federal employees dedicate their careers to public service – more than a third are military veterans – and the contempt being shown them by this administration is appalling.”

The AFL-CIO is running an action directing calls to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, telling them to get to work, fund the government and stop the health care crisis. Make a call through this online tool.