By The nation’s largest federal workers’ union is demanding an immediate end to the 27-day government shutdown, urging Congress to approve a clean funding bill to reopen agencies and restore pay to hundreds of thousands of employees.
In a statement Monday, Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said the time for political brinkmanship had run out. “No half measures, and no gamesmanship,” Kelley said. “Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today.”
Representing more than 800,000 federal employees across agencies including Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and Defense, the AFGE has also taken legal action over the shutdown’s fallout. On October 3, it sued the Department of Education, citing automated staff emails blaming Democrats in Congress for the funding lapse, writes The Hill.
The shutdown, which began October 1, is now the second-longest in U.S. history, trailing only the 35-day closure during former President Donald Trump’s administration. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, roughly 670,000 federal employees have been furloughed while another 730,000 continue working without pay. The last paycheck arrived October 10 for work through September 30, but none followed last Friday.
The Pentagon has temporarily sustained military pay using $8 billion in leftover funds for research, testing, and education, though officials warn those accounts will be exhausted by month’s end. Defense Manpower Data Center figures show more than 1.34 million active-duty service members as of late August.
“These are patriotic Americans – parents, caregivers, and veterans – forced to work without pay while struggling to cover rent, groceries, gas and medicine because of political disagreements in Washington. That is unacceptable,” Kelley said.
The standoff reflects deep partisan rifts over spending priorities. On September 19, the House passed a Republican-backed continuing resolution labeled “clean” and “nonpartisan” by Speaker Mike Johnson, with only one Democrat—Rep. Jared Golden of Maine—voting in favor. The measure has since failed repeatedly in the Senate, where Democrats are insisting on an extension of temporary Affordable Care Act subsidies passed as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic as part of any deal to reopen the government. Their measure would include spending on healthcare for those illegally in the country.
Republicans, meanwhile, argue that debate should occur after federal operations resume.
Kelley said lawmakers must set aside political demands and focus on restoring government functions and workers’ pay. “The national interest requires Congress to act immediately to bring every federal employee back to work, pay them for the work they’ve already done (or been locked out from doing), and continue having the debates and disagreements that are the hallmark of a strong democracy – without punishing the people who keep our nation running,” he said.
Democrats, however, have told the union to kick rocks. Some Democrats privately admitted the statement carries weight—Sen. Dick Durbin called AFGE “our friends” and said its position “has a lot of impact”—but most emphasized they are still “holding the line.” Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat from Virginia, said most feedback from his district urged Democrats not to give in.
Democrats told Axios they believe Republicans will eventually be forced to negotiate, viewing the shutdown as leverage to secure concessions, particularly on Affordable Care Act subsidies. Several D.C.-area lawmakers said their union constituents were angry about AFGE’s stance, seeing Republicans as the ones responsible for the shutdown. The country, however, has begun seeing through the Democratic charade.
🚨 BREAKING: In a huge blow to Chuck Schumer’s assertion that “every day gets better for us,” CNN reports that Republicans have IMPROVED their poll numbers during the shutdown while Democrats are in the WORST position they’ve been in 20 years.pic.twitter.com/XkVDkH6SBW
— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) October 28, 2025
CNN pollster Harry Enten stunned his CNN audience on Tuesday by showing that Americans’ view of Republicans in Congress has improved during the shutdown.
“You might think that given that Republicans are in charge of both the House and the Senate, a government shutdown might actually hurt the Republican brand,” the pollster quipped, but it turns out the public is more savvy than Democrats think.
