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DDemocrats in Congress suffered a blow on Monday when the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents federal workers, issued a statement calling for an end to the government shutdown.
“The path forward for Congress is clear: immediately reopen the government under a clean continuing resolution that allows for continued debate on the big issues,” AFGE President Everett Kelly said in a statement Monday.
This statement is a key issue for Democrats in their government shutdown strategy.
Democrats calculated that federal workers would endure temporary pain if it meant they could. Force Republicans to extend enhanced COVID-era tax creditsLast week also, A majority of Senate Democrats voted against a resolution Bill by Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) to pay certain federal employees, which Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) said would “let the President decide who he wants to pay.”
Republicans have never liked federal employees, seeing the government workforce as bloated, and they aren’t keen on labor unions either. But Democrats, who have long focused on how DOGE defeated the federal workforce and consider themselves the party of labor unions, saw a call to end the shutdown as a crackdown on their strategy.
But Republicans are also being blatantly hypocritical at this point. on weekends, The Trump administration announced that families who receive federal food assistance Additional assistance will not be available through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. A notice from the Department of Agriculture stated that “the well has gone dry” and clearly stated that “we are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”
There is some irony in Republicans threatening SNAP benefits. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that included sweeping changes to the program. In particular, this Requires that parents with children 14 years of age or older work for profit and States with high error rates need to bear the cost of providing nutrition assistance,
Additionally, while blue states like New Mexico and Oregon have large numbers of SNAP recipients, at least 16 percent of the population in states like Oklahoma and Louisiana — the home state of House Speaker Mike Johnson — is dependent on benefits, according to the Department of Agriculture.
But Johnson is showing no signs of backing down as he continues to keep the House out of session and says the onus is on five Democratic senators to join the GOP.
“The best way to get SNAP benefits paid out on time is for Democrats to end their shutdown, and that can happen now,” Johnson said during a press conference Monday.
Then there’s the final pressure point that could hurt Republicans and Democrats alike: health care premiums. On November 1, open enrollment for the ‘Obamacare’ health care marketplaces will begin.
That’s when many Americans on the health care exchanges will see what the new prices would be without the increased subsidies and feel the shock.
Everyone knows what would have to be done to end the shutdown: The president would have to force Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries into a room and make them promise to cast a similar vote on health care subsidies to either attach it to the final continuing resolution or subject it to a separate vote, taking them to the Senate and the House. Will have to be allowed to continue their work.
“I think it’s well recognized that, it’s not just the House that has to figure this out,” Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). told Independent last week“The administration has to sign it so the House can ultimately sign it.”
Under normal circumstances, Murkowski, a moderate who is respected by her Democratic colleagues, would be making a deal that no one will like but that will fix the problems. His words are a tacit acknowledgment that nothing can happen without Trump’s approval.
And Trump has said he will not meet with Schumer and Jeffries until the government reopens.
But so far, the general public has been spared the major pain of the shutdown. Now, with labor at risk, poor people going hungry, and health care costs rising, this could be enough to force Democrats and Trump back to the table.