Hi John,

As the shutdown enters its ninth day, the rent, mortgage and bills keep coming for America’s workers.

The bills keep coming for the workers who provide health care for veterans, help Americans with their Social Security benefits, inspect our food and medicines, and keep our airports safe.

The bills keep coming for contract workers—including custodians and cafeteria workers—who don’t have the assurance of back pay. Instead of chatting with their kids about Halloween costumes, parents will be forced to explain why the lights aren’t on. People who need medication like insulin may choose to ration it so they can afford to keep the water running. 

And all of this pain is happening because the Trump administration is threatening to double or triple people’s health care premiums by refusing to extend the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits.

Congress needs to hear from working people right now: Fund the government. Fix the health care crisis. Put working people first. Make a call right now. 

If you’ve already made a call, click here to send an email too.

This week, the Trump administration decided that because of the shutdown, they were going to pause billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure and energy projects across the country. These projects employ hundreds of thousands of workers in construction, manufacturing and operations, and are supposed to help lower electricity prices.

It’s clear what the administration is doing: squeezing working people any way they can until they cry uncle and abandon demands to fix the administration’s Affordable Care Act crisis.

We can all agree on this basic principle: These workers, and all workers in America, just want to be able to do their job and get paid a decent paycheck for their work. The last thing that working families and our economy need is another hit when these paychecks don’t arrive on time and workers start having to make impossible decisions. 

Working people should not be used as pawns or bargaining chips, whether it is threatening one set of workers after another, canceling construction projects, or jacking up electricity prices on top of higher health insurance premiums. 

Will you make a call to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and your senators and representative to tell them to get to work and fund the government, fix the health care crisis and put working people first? Make a call now: 844-896-5059 or click here to call. 

In solidarity, 

Team AFL-CIO

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