Democrats Snub Federal Worker Calls to Vote No on Federal Budget

When the possibility of a government shutdown loomed over the federal government last week, the Democrats had a chance to make a real stand to block Trump and the billionaire agenda’s onslaught against the federal workforce and social programs. Even as federal workers called for Democrats to vote down the federal spending resolution, or CR (H.R. 1968), the Democratic Party leadership with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer at the helm, folded at this critical juncture and instead voted to pass the CR.

A letter sent from Everett Kelley – the President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) which represents more than 800,000 federal and D.C. workers, the largest group of unionized federal workers – laid it out in no uncertain terms. The letter to Senate Democrats states, “On behalf of the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (AFGE), which represents more than 800,000 federal and D.C. workers, I strongly urge you to oppose H.R. 1968, the spending measure that the Senate will consider this week. Please vote NO… With thousands of federal workers either fired, placed on administrative leave, or at immediate risk of losing their jobs, AFGE members have concluded that a widespread government shutdown has been underway since January 20 and will continue to spread whether senators vote yes or no on H.R. 1968.”

The union’s main issue with the CR is that it gives the executive branch total discretion to disperse the allotted funds or not. That means that despite the temporary spending measure leaving the previous budget largely unaltered, they are essentially giving Musk and Trump the power to continue to withhold funding and carry out their budget cuts and mass layoffs. This is already what is happening to the federal government from the Social Security Administration to the Department of Agriculture which administers SNAP.

The letter from Kelley continues, “AFGE is particularly struck that even as the Senate prepares to debate and vote on [the CR], the Trump administration has announced its intention to effectively destroy the Department of Education regardless of whether Congress approves or disapproves of that decision.” The billionaires are carrying out their agenda regardless of votes to formally cut the budget.

Government workers don’t take shutdowns lightly. Shutdowns mean furloughs for most government workers and the others continue working without pay. However, they’ve stated it’s preferable to shut down the government rather than allow the attacks on these programs and the mass layoffs of federal workers to continue. This amounts to calling on the Democrats to put up real resistance to Trump. Rather than a death by a thousand cuts, AFGE was prepared to put it all on the line and fight back, so long as they could count on the Democrats to stand with them to battle in Congress and back them on the public stage.

Instead of heeding AFGE’s call to take a stand and vote no on the CR, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer folded. He not only gave in, but ultimately voted in favor of the CR and brought other Democrats with him. Schumer said he voted for it because a shutdown would be worse for working people and for the sake of “bipartisanship” (bipartisan support often being a bad sign for working people). The battle is already here and the programs and services working people rely on are already being slashed by the billionaire agenda carried out by DOGE, but Schumer would rather performatively wave a couple signs when Trump comes to Congress than actually stand against them.

Many in the Democratic Party have come out against Schumer’s moves, saying he betrayed the party and working people by voting for the CR. However, Schumer – a self-described “institutionalist” – is absolutely representative of his party’s resistance to Trump now. He was the key figure leading the Democrats “resistance” to Trump in his first term too. Rather than grapple with this reality or put forward a strategy to beat the billionaire agenda, Schumer assures his party’s base that they will work on their social media strategy. The recent video of congressional reps pretending to be in a video game tells us just how serious about fighting they seem to be.

With the Democrats offering little more than performative resistance, their popularity has hit record lows, and now working people are looking elsewhere for leadership and action. The call from AFGE to vote no on the CR is a marked shift from how they’ve treated past shutdowns and shows how different this moment is. Sara Nelson, the President of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), has even said it’s necessary for the labor movement to organize towards a general strike as the only way to stop this all out war on working people. With May Day approaching soon, more unions must start preparing to take the bolder actions needed to defeat these attacks on working people.

The labor movement is strongest when it fights not just for its membership, but for the interests of all working people. Right now, as the Democrats fold and the billionaire’s move ahead unimpeded, independent working class leadership and organization through our unions is more critical than ever.