Trump spurs federal government shutdown

Carrying through on earlier threats, President Donald Trump has encouraged congressional Republicans not to negotiate with Democrats on a budget for the new fiscal year, prompting a shutdown of the federal government that began Oct. 1. At the heart of the funding fight, Republicans are trying to take away healthcare from 15 million Americans by making the largest cuts in history to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, while Democrats are trying to protect and extend Americans' healthcare benefits.

Congress usually works over the summer on budget bills, which include funding for programs like Title I, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and nutrition programs. In recent decades, congressional appropriators often haven't managed to complete their budget on time and have fallen back on a temporary measure that extends funding at the previous year's levels. This legislation, called a continuing resolution, sometimes lasts for a month or longer. There is no continuing resolution now.

The main sticking point during this go-round has been an attempt by Democrats to correct a healthcare problem ignored by the "big, ugly bill" passed earlier this year, which gave tax credits to the wealthy and corporations but did not extend healthcare tax credits under the ACA that otherwise will expire at the end of the year. Without this correction, healthcare insurance premiums for Americans using the ACA are expected to go up 114 percent nationwide and up to 95 percent in rural areas. That would mean rising insurance premiums for all Americans because costs would increase across the board.

Since the shutdown began, government services for Native Americans have paused. Many AFT members who belong to the Federation of Indian Service Employees have been furloughed or are working without pay.

Bureau of Indian Education school employees are not affected by the shutdown, as schools are forward-funded for the entire school year. Employees in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs who are told that they are "essential" or "excepted" must report to work and will not be paid until the shutdown ends. Other FISE-represented employees will not work until the shutdown is resolved.

Teachers who are members of the Overseas Federation of Teachers working in Defense Department schools abroad will have to work without pay and suspend any extracurricular activities.

Programs not affected by the shutdown include student aid and loans, Medicare, Medicaid, the military, the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Postal Service. Also, the only federal education program that's not forward-funded is impact aid, which affects school districts that lose revenue because of federally owned lands, like military bases, within their boundaries.

The Trump administration continues to threaten mass firings of federal employees. The executive branch of the federal government has no special or new authority, but it may continue laying off thousands of employees. The last extended federal shutdown lasted more than a month; this one may extend longer, given Trump's history of antagonism toward public services. In 2018 and 2019, during his first administration, he presided over the longest ever partial government shutdown, which lasted 35 days.

Trump is hurting Americans

The current shutdown is yet another example of the GOP prioritizing billionaires over the health and welfare of working families, notes AFT President Randi Weingarten. "The American people are always the ones hurt when the government shuts down," she said on the eve of the shutdown. "It locks out workers and hurts Americans who need government services."

Weingarten explains that the shutdown would have been completely avoidable if the Republicans who control the federal government had decided to address a healthcare emergency they created in their big, ugly budget bill last summer. Under that legislation, health clinics and rural hospitals will be forced to close or slash services. Millions will lose their health insurance, and those who keep it will have to pay thousands of dollars in higher health insurance premiums--all so that corporations and the ultrarich can pocket even more tax giveaways.

"They are holding the American people hostage, refusing to fund essential services unless their harmful policies remain in place," Weingarten says. "On top of that, they're again hurting federal workers and the essential services they provide by threatening illegal mass layoffs."

Democracy Forward has filed a lawsuit on behalf of federal employees challenging the administration's threats of additional reduction-in-force plans. You can read the complaint here. And you can find information on the shutdown at the AFT's shutdown watch page.

Not their first rodeo

Earlier this year, Trump targeted federal probationary employees for mass firings, with thousands of workers being terminated across multiple agencies. In March, Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction ordering the workers' reinstatement.

Early in June, Trump asked Congress to rubberstamp his henchman Elon Musk's destructive rampage through federal agencies cutting $9.4 billion in funding that was already approved by Congress and signed into law. This action eventually passed both the House and Senate without any Democratic support, despite warnings that by unilaterally undoing prior funding agreements, Republicans would jeopardize trust in future negotiations.

As to meeting with Democrats, Trump said in mid-September, "don't even bother dealing with them," cutting out the democratically elected representatives for half the country. Following his irresponsible comments, House Republicans failed in their responsibility to negotiate a bipartisan measure to keep funding the government.

In related developments, the 150,000 federal workers who took Trump's "buy-out" early this year saw their last official day on payroll Sept. 30. At the same time, the president continues with plans to lay off federal workers, and he has threatened to escalate those layoffs if Congress did not come to a budget agreement by the new fiscal year Oct. 1.

Democrats also are demanding that guardrails be put in place to prevent the abuses described above and to ensure that the administration is forced to honor any agreement on reopening the government.

[Annette Licitra]