The Government
Shutdown Toolkit
Lower Health Care Costs. Protect Workers. Fund Public Services.
Working families are struggling to make ends meet and afford health care. But instead of helping them, anti-worker extremists have shut down the government and are using workers and public services as bargaining chips to protect tax breaks for billionaires.
AFSCME members need to get organized to fight back. Use this toolkit to keep the pressure on Congress and share information with your co-workers and community on how we need to bring down costs for working families. Our message to Congress is simple: Lower Health Care Costs. Protect Workers. Fund Public Services. And use the hashtag #FundPublicServices when you post on social media!
What’s In This Toolkit
Messaging
Working families and retirees across the country are facing a cost-of-living crisis and a looming health care crisis. Rather than lower health care costs for working families, the administration directed their yes-men in Congress to take an unscheduled recess and shut down the government.
Their goal is to inflict pain on working families by firing workers and letting funding for public services dry up, so they won’t have to lower health care costs.
- 42 million people are at risk of going hungry without full food support
- 22 million people will see their health care premiums double
- Nearly 5 million will lose their health insurance
As families lose their health care and food support and as AFSCME members’ jobs are impacted, it’s clear that anti-worker politicians are willing to sacrifice our jobs, our safety, and even our families’ security if it means protecting tax breaks for greedy billionaires and corporations.
That’s why we must keep the pressure on Congress and remind them who they’re supposed to work for: us – not billionaires. Tell them: Lower Health Care Costs. Protect Workers. Fund Public Services.
Lower Health Care Costs
Because anti-worker extremists failed to extend premium tax credits for people who get their insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace, health insurance premiums for 22 million people will double – increasing by more than 114%, on average.
For families on a tight budget or retirees on a fixed income, these premium increases could mean the difference between seeing a doctor when you’re sick or making rent. This is especially true for older people. Insurance companies can charge them as much as three times more than younger people. Nationwide, nearly 5 million families are expected to become uninsured because of anti-worker extremists’ cruelty.
Failure to extend these tax credits will have ripple effects throughout the economy:
- Everyone will see their health insurance premiums rise – even if they don’t get insurance through the ACA marketplace – as hospitals and other health care facilities struggle to cover the increased costs of uncompensated care.
- Health care funding helps to stimulate the economy. Without that funding, nearly 340,000 jobs are expected to disappear in health care and other industries as economic activity decreases.
- Additionally, states, cities and towns are projected to lose more than $2.5 billion in revenue. This will hurt their ability to fund the essential services that AFSCME members provide not just in health care, but across all sectors.
- Hospital closures and cutbacks, especially in rural areas, have already begun. If Congress doesn’t act urgently, it will mean furloughs and layoffs for AFSCME members who work in health care. It will harm the patients we serve and make our communities sicker.
Congress could have extended health care support for working families and retirees earlier this year. Instead, it prioritized making deeper tax cuts for greedy corporations and billionaires.
Tell the Yes Men and Women Congress to stop playing games with our health and jobs: lower health care costs.
Protect Workers
To make matters worse, the administration has been attempting to use the shutdown to advance their extreme Project 2025 agenda and illegally fire federal workers, including AFSCME members.
Federal workers are not bargaining chips. They work and live all over the country – not just in Washington, D.C. They are the people who inspect our food, protect our water, distribute Social Security and Medicare benefits, and keep our nation safe and strong.
AFSCME is standing up to these attacks on our jobs. We successfully sued in court to prevent the administration from carrying out illegal mass layoffs in a big win for working people.
Despite the constant attacks on their jobs, federal workers have continued to show up for their communities – many working throughout the shutdown to keep airports open, Social Security running and our communities safe. They deserve better than missing paychecks or being at risk of losing their health care thanks to this administration and anti-worker politicians’ refusal to lower health care costs.
We must continue the fight to protect workers by keeping pressure on Congress to lower health care costs and fund public services.
Fund Public Services/State and Local Impacts
For AFSCME members, this shutdown is a direct threat to our jobs and the public services we provide. States, cities and towns are already facing budget shortfalls due to extreme public service cuts made by the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.” Now, they will lose even more federal funding, which on average makes up one-third of state budgets.
Anti-worker extremists are threatening our jobs, our safety and our paychecks all so they can avoid lowering health care costs for working families and protect tax breaks for billionaires who don’t need another dime.
Programs losing critical funding include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, many Head Start grants and funding for many housing authorities. The loss of these funds will hurt our communities and lead to furloughs of dedicated public service workers.
In an admitted effort to inflict pain on working families, the administration allowed funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps families afford groceries, to lapse on November 1.
Thanks to court cases brought by states’ attorneys general and a coalition of nonprofits, the administration will now partially fund SNAP benefits for the month of November, but they are still refusing to fully fund critical food support for those most vulnerable — ignoring the judge’s authorization for them to make the full payments.
42 million people nationwide rely on SNAP for critical food support. That’s 1 in 8 people. Without full food assistance, families, children and retirees will go hungry and sink deeper into financial crisis.
In the face of the administration’s threats, many states are trying to find ways to make up for this loss in funding, but as they are already cash-strapped, funding diverted to continue SNAP benefits will mean less funding for other public services that our communities depend on.
Cutting funding for SNAP will hurt our economy. Every dollar invested in SNAP generates up to $1.50 in economic activity. The loss of business for grocers will also result in state and local revenues being hurt and the economy shrinking even more.
Without funding to support the work we do, AFSCME members across all sectors will experience more direct impacts the longer this shutdown continues.
Enough is enough. Demand extremists in Congress stop playing games with our paychecks, our families and our communities. Tell them to fund public services today.
Take Action
Make a call or send a letter to your member of Congress. Make sure they know where you and your community stand. You can call them by clicking here or send a letter by clicking here. Organize your friends and family to make calls too.
Speak to your member of Congress directly. Schedule a visit to their office either alone or with several fellow AFSCME members. Hearing from you in person is a powerful way to let them know what’s at stake in this fight.
Writing a letter to the editor or an op-ed for your local news outlet is a good way to share your message locally. Your story has power. Share it! Fill out the form below if you’d like help sharing your story.
Support working families who are struggling to afford food and donate to Feeding America.
Social media Graphics
Download the below graphics to share the AFSCME GO message. Remember to use #FundPublicServices on your posts!
Content Ideas
- Tell Your Story: Record a selfie-style video sharing how Congress’ refusal to lower health care costs and continue the shutdown is impacting you and your work.
- Be specific: is your workplace losing important public service funding? Do you distribute food assistance benefits or serve families who do? How will the loss of these services – even partially – impact your community? What would it look like if you weren’t there to do your job?
- Film the video vertically, with a suggested length of 90 seconds.
- Post to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook Reels and/or YouTube Shorts, and be sure to tag @afscme and use the hashtag #FundPublicServices so we can uplift your videos.
