Second threat of government shutdown has AFGE seeking assistance

District 6 President of the American Federation of Government Employees, Arnold Scott, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss a possible government shutdown at the end of September. Scott discussed the shutdown costs and the AFGE’s plan to get federal workers help.

After one major battle in 2023, where the United States government narrowly avoided a government shutdown, there is a possibility of repeating the fight this fall. A deal was brokered in Congress earlier in 2023 that established guidelines for the funding of the government. However, this agreement was dissolved shortly after the debt ceiling was raised by the House majority. Now a new deadline is approaching at the end of September. 

If Congress fails to act and the federal government must shut down, there would be a cost of approximately $5 billion per week that would not be paid to workers and, in turn, not reenter the economy. The costs of the shutdown would be far worse than the U.S. experienced during the 2019 35-day shutdown. Scott is concerned that Congress isn’t taking the government's funding seriously and won’t realize the possible economic impact until it’s too late. If they don’t find a way to fully fund the government’s operations, the results could devastate the United States economy, he said.

The AFGE is working on a plan to help support federal workers for the last few weeks. Included in this plan is a “Stop the Shutdown” webpage asking people to reach out to their local government officials. AFGE also provides templates for letters to be sent to the editors of area news outlets and Congress. According to Scott, they have targeted several members of Congress with letters to ask for their support to get funding and avoid the shutdown.

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