John,

We are in the second week of the Trump shutdown, and the House of Representatives remains adjourned due to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Donald Trump’s refusal to negotiate with Democrats. Without the House in session, a bipartisan budget deal to reopen the government cannot be reached.

Donald Trump and members of his party can easily end this shutdown right now by agreeing to sit down to craft a bipartisan deal, address rising health costs by extending the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits and stopping the administration’s attacks on funding for local communities―including halting their efforts to “run out the clock” by holding up funding approved by Congress.

Health insurers are already sending notices to people about sharply increased insurance premiums, and the ACA marketplace’s open enrollment period begins next month. Congress doesn’t have until the end of the year to address this health care crisis. Republicans need to come back and negotiate now.

Send a message to Congress telling them to reject any government funding bill that leaves vulnerable communities behind.

During all of this chaos, Donald Trump and his Office of Management and Budget Director, Russell Vought, are not only threatening to fire more federal employees, they’re also threatening to deny back pay to furloughed workers.¹ These actions would be illegal, according to most experts.

Federal workers are not millionaires. They’re regular working people who, like most people, cannot go weeks without a paycheck. Many of the programs workers rely on have been cut as a result of the Big Ugly Bill or due to illegal funding freezes made by this administration. They must not use federal workers and others as political pawns.

Since January, the Trump regime has fired workers and frozen, cancelled, or delayed funding that communities need.² They have threatened to use the shutdown to do more of the same―punishing their opponents and marginalized communities. We need to emphasize: the Trump administration’s actions to cancel congressionally enacted funding before and during the shutdown are all the more reason why an agreement to end the shutdown must include requirements that Trump and Republicans abide by congressional funding decisions. Republicans are causing the shutdown because they won’t address the health care crisis in America―and then playing games with real people’s lives.

Send a direct message to Congress, demanding they reject any government funding bill that doesn’t address our health crisis or hold the Trump administration accountable for attacking funding for our communities.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, CHN Action

¹ White House Signals It May Try to Deny Back Pay to Furloughed Federal Workers
²NEW: Weeks Away from End of Fiscal Year, Trump is Blocking $410+ Billion in Funding Owed to Communities Nationwide