Government shutdown nears 4th week as crisis hits Illinois

Nearly four weeks ago, the Trump administration and its yes-men and women in Congress shut down the government. For weeks, the American people have paid the price as public services have been put on hold and federal workers have been put on leave without immediate pay.

This happened because anti-worker extremists refused to reach a bipartisan deal to stop health care costs from skyrocketing. Instead, they are protecting the deep tax breaks for greedy billionaires and corporations included in the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.” That decision could well lead to health care premiums more than doubling for millions of Americans, with hospitals and health centers closing.

The shutdown chaos is now reaching Illinois state government. The Trump administration is threatening to cut off 2 million Illinois residents from their Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) benefits on Nov. 1 if the government is not reopened. 

Thousands of AFSCME members in state government are responsible for processing and distributing SNAP benefits. 

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been put on leave or have been forced to work without pay. More than 80% of those workers live outside Washington, D.C., providing the services we rely on—caring for our veterans, processing Social Security applications, keeping our food and water safe, protecting us at airports and responding during natural disasters. 

This fight is about refusing to let the Trump administration allow insurance prices for ACA health care to more than double in just a few months, a crisis that would leave millions of people uninsured and raise prices for everyone, whether you get your insurance through the ACA or not.  

The same politicians who are responsible for the looming health care crisis are responsible for the government shutdown.  Rather than hold health insurance costs in check for working people and retirees, they’ve prioritized making billionaires even richer.

It's time to stop playing partisan games with our health, our jobs and our families. Congress should put working people first and end the shutdown by preventing health care cost increases, protecting jobs, and keeping critical services operational.