The end may be nigh for Chuck Schumer's dumb political stunt. One of their core constituencies just declared that they have had enough of lost paychecks. The largest of the federal public employees' unions issued a statement today demanding that Senate Democrats pass the clean continuing resolution on the floor already, and get their workers back on the job stat:
The country’s largest union representing federal workers is calling for lawmakers to pass a short-term spending measure to immediately end the government shutdown, urging Democrats to abandon their current position and join Republicans in supporting a stopgap solution.
“Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight,” American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley wrote in a statement first shared with NBC News. “It’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today. No half measures, and no gamesmanship.”
The statement could increase pressure on Democrats to budge from their stance. Senate Democrats have insisted that they won’t vote to reopen the government without a commitment from Republicans and President Donald Trump on extending health care subsidies through the Affordable Care Act, which are set to expire at the end of the year. Without them, health insurance premiums on Obamacare markets will skyrocket for many individuals and families.
How much weight does AFGE have with Democrats? Salena Zito offers some insight:
Per @BradOnMessage 100% of AFGE’s political donations went to Democrats in 2024 (that is how significant this moment is for Democrats). https://t.co/RIL8lrAfGV
— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) October 27, 2025
AFGE does a lot of lobbying in DC, too. They spent nearly $5 million in the previous two years, according to Open Secrets. They contributed over $66,000 to Democrat committees for the House and Senate in the previous cycle -- not massive donations, but enough to have some draw. Ninety-four percent of their campaign donations went to Democrats, and 87% went to incumbents. They kicked in maximum contributions to 132 House Dems as well as 14 Senate Dems.
In other words, they matter -- even if they may not matter most.
More to the point, AFGE represents hundreds of thousands of federal workers now at risk of losing their paychecks. It's not as if AFGE is not up for a fight against Donald Trump:
AFGE represents 820,000 federal and D.C. government workers across almost every agency. The group is suing the Trump administration on several fronts connected to the shutdown: first over the mass layoffs organized by Trump budget chief Russell Vought and second over partisan out-of-office email messages blaming Democrats for the shutdown that were set by the Education Department, without employees’ permission or foreknowledge.
AFGE doesn't want to duck a fight; they just want to duck stupid fights. They are also likely worried that these lawsuits will get dismissed, and with them any hope of preventing the reductions-in-force moves by Vought that threatens to reduce their membership by tens of thousands, if not more. The nonsense shutdown has nothing to do with protecting those jobs anyway, and AFGE must have finally realized that their workers were being made sacrificial lambs for the hard-Left's desire for mindless obstruction.
So what now? This demand will have some impact on Senate Democrats, but will it be enough to overcome Schumer's appeasement of radical anarchists? Stay tuned, but it's pretty clear now that Republicans won't feel the need to budge at this point. And with the clean CR only extending operations to November 21, they need to pass something soon before Republicans have to produce another clean CR to allow any time for honest negotiations.
And finally, AFGE makes it clear who owns the Schumer Shutdown. Now it's time for the accountability that comes with it.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here -- for now. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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