By AFSCME Staff - Friday October 3, 2025
Working families across the country are staring down a health care crisis. Premiums are about to double for more than 22 million people, and hospitals and health centers nationwide struggle to keep their doors open.
Instead of working to fix this crisis and keep families healthy, the president and his yes-men and women in Congress have caused a government shutdown. They’ve chosen to protect the massive tax breaks for billionaires and greedy corporations they passed in the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.” And it’s going to affect AFSCME jobs.
States, counties, cities and towns are already facing budget shortfalls. Now, they may lose even more federal funding that support critical services.
Here are just some of the AFSCME members whose jobs may be affected:
- Safety inspectors who enforce workplace safety rules at the state level
- State Disability Determination Service workers (DDS) who determine whether people with disabilities qualify for Social Security disability benefits
- Head Start workers who provide critical education and nutrition services to children from low-income families
Depending on how long the shutdown lasts, more programs that rely on federal funding could be at risk. For example, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps millions of people in need afford their groceries, is on track to provide benefits through at least the end of October. But if federal funding were exhausted because of a drawn-out shutdown, benefits might be suspended.
On top of this, thousands of AFSCME members who work for the federal government are facing the immediate impact of the shutdown as they are being furloughed.
This is why Congress must act urgently to fund the government and fix the health care crisis. It’s time to stop playing games with our health, our jobs and our communities.