Largest federal workers union calls on Congress to pass funding bill to end shutdown
The largest federal workers union in the U.S. called on Congress to bring an end to the government shutdown and reopen the government on Monday, urging lawmakers to pass a funding measure today.
“Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight,” Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, wrote in a statement. The union represents 800,000 federal and D.C. government workers.
Kelley said that “it’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today,” outlining that lawmakers should vote for a funding measure that “allows continued debate on larger issues.” Senate Democrats have repeatedly opposed a measure that would fund the government until Nov. 21 as they’ve sought an extension of health insurance tax credits.
The union president stressed that Congress must ensure back pay for federal employees and work on a bipartisan basis on “important policy matters like addressing rising costs and fixing the broken appropriations process.”
“None of these steps favor one political side over another,” Kelley said. “They favor the American people — who expect stability from their government and responsibility from their leaders.”
Shutdown impact stretches from federal workers to air traffic control and food assistance
Nearly half a million federal workers missed their first full paycheck on Friday. Sarah Lamm is among them, continuing to go to work at a Social Security field office without pay 27 days into the shutdown.
“I’m the head of my household. I’m the sole income provider for my home. I’m a parent. I have two small children. I carry the load in that sense,” Lamm told CBS News. “Not having an end in sight, I think adds to that anxiety and everything’s very uncertain.”
And this week, thousands more are expected to not be paid — including air traffic controllers.
A series of staffing shortages on Sunday prompted a temporary ground stop at Los Angeles International Airport, with additional delays reported in Newark, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday that “controllers are wearing thin,” pointing to more than 20 staffing triggers.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on its website that “the well has run dry,” warning that no benefits will be issued on Nov. 1 under the food stamp program, known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which covers 40 million Americans.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says U.S. won’t be able to pay military by Nov. 15
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that service members will miss paychecks by Nov. 15 if the government shutdown stretches on, despite the Trump administration’s previous assurances that members of the military will be paid amid the funding lapse.
“I think we’ll be able to pay them beginning in November, but by Nov. 15 our troops and service members who are willing to risk their lives aren’t going to be able to get paid,” Bessent said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
Read more here.
Federal food aid will not go out starting Nov. 1, Trump administration says
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid will not go out on Nov. 1, raising the stakes for families nationwide as the government shutdown drags on.
The new notice comes after the Trump administration said it would not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP, flowing into November. That program helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries.
Read more here.
