‘Put Working People First’: WI AFL-CIO Responds to Government Shutdown

Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale released the following statement on the 2025 government shutdown:

The Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress have forced a reckless shutdown of our federal government, causing unnecessary hardship for some 18,000 federal workers in Wisconsin and accelerating an impending health care crisis for Americans.

Federal employees, a third of whom are veterans and 80% of which live outside of Washington D.C., are patriotic Americans who provide essential services to communities across our country every day. Many federal workers live paycheck to paycheck and cannot sustain a period of suspended pay without significant distress. Every day the Trump shutdown drags on, federal workers and their families are forced to make impossible choices to make ends meet. All because Republicans have refused to bargain in good faith to address rising healthcare costs for Americans. 

Congress must put people over politics and immediately end this senseless shutdown. The labor movement’s message to Congress and to the administration is clear: fund the government, fix the health care crisis, put working people first.