House Democratic leaders signaled they are not shifting their position on the shutdown a day after the nation’s largest federal workers union urging them to back a “clean” funding measure to open the government.
The Democrats said they empathize with the workers represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), but that ending the shutdown will require GOP leaders to bring House lawmakers back to Washington to negotiate a bipartisan deal that also protects people from a scheduled spike in health care costs.
“We certainly understand where those union members are coming from and the difficult dilemma they have,” said Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), the Democratic whip.
“But this is the situation we’re in with a Republican Party that refuses to even come to the table,” Clark said. “So we hear the union — we stand with them. And we implore our colleagues to come back to work.”
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said that he believes the AFGE is “advocating on behalf of their membership, and that’s what they should be doing.”
But, he added, “I don’t see how House Democrats can negotiate when House Republicans are still on vacation.”
The shutdown, which began on Oct. 1 after Congress failed to strike a funding deal, has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay, even as many are required to continue working. The AFGE represents 820,000 federal and D.C. government workers nationwide and globally, according to its website.
The group has been highly critical of President Trump for firing thousands of federal workers since he took office in January — and for leaning on the shutdown to justify a spike in those layoffs. But in a statement issued Monday, the group challenged the Democrats’ opposition to the Republicans’ “clean” stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), which would fund the government through Nov. 21.
“[I]t’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today,” Everett Kelley, AFGE’s president, said in the statement. “No half measures, and no gamesmanship. Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today.”
GOP leaders quickly highlighted AFGE’s support for their CR strategy to press their case that Democrats are to blame for shuttering the government at the expense of thousands of federal workers.
Democrats argue that Republicans’ spending bill is not clean because the Trump administration has previously rescinded funds appropriated by Congress in funding bills. They want specific language requiring President Trump to spend funds as Congress intended.
“I actually call it a fake CR, because if you don’t have language in there that says that the administration can’t just randomly cut programs and cut federal workers, then it’s a fake CR, and I’m just not going to support that,” Lieu said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has previously said he won’t bring the lower chamber back into session until the government reopens, putting pressure on the Senate to advance a stopgap measure passed by the House last month.
Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked that House GOP measure, arguing subsidies set to expire under the Affordable Care Act must be addressed.
While AFGE’s position has given fuel to Republicans in the debate, a number of other top unions have stuck with Democrats — at least so far — including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
“We continue to maintain the position that we will not support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday. “But we, of course, want to reopen the government and enact a bipartisan spending agreement. The bill that has been pending before Congress as a result of the Republican ‘my way or highway approach’ is not a clean continuing resolution. It is a dirty one that continues to gut the health care of everyday Americans.”
