Government Shutdown - Sep 2025 Thread

[Anonymous]

Fed here. I was pissed when the Ds caved back in the spring, but I’m kind of indifferent now. I’d like the Ds to stand up, but maybe these health ins cuts need to go into effect for people to start feeling the pain and seeing what Trump and the Rs are really doing. As far as the threatened RIFs go, I think if the agency wasn’t going to do a RIF before, it’s not going to do one now. But I guess we’ll see.

[Anonymous]

I'm a fed and they've literally been threatening to fire me every other week since February. If we DON'T shut down, it seems like we're having a RIF in the next 2-3 weeks. So I've been preparing to go without paychecks for months. The worst they can do is fire me, and apparently they want to do that anyway. I have nothing to lose.

I think we all can agree that the Dems screwed up backing down in the spring. The OBBB was reconciliation, their votes weren't needed and they had no input. But Vought has been saying "we don't think appropriations bills should be bipartisan, we think there has been too much compromise." If Dems give in now, and don't even stick to their one demand (which I believe is way too small and shows that their problem is a focus on messaging, not the moral responsibility of governing), they will never have a seat at the table again. Ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Really? Not Vought, the unelected moron who is the one threatening to destroy the livelihoods of American families? When no other lapse in funding has ever required firing 90% of the government? You MAGA are really dim bulbs.

Not MAGA. I am a federal lawyer married to a disabled veteran, and I am a disaffected Dem who is profoundly disappointed in how feckless and weak the Dems are. During the DOGE cuts, they held hands and chanted. There were some strongly worded letters. Some wholly ineffectual press appearances, because they all apparently have lost the ability to talk like normal people without using Hill speak. Otherwise they approved nominees and went along as if things were normal and the government wasn’t being gutted.

And now they are taking a stand in a way that (1) is utterly pointless and (2) will hurt MORE federal workers? I don’t give a good g—-mn who is to blame here, I want the government to stay open. Things were starting to normalize, a little, and this puts us back into RIFs and mass firings. We have been through enough this year and I’m not willing to sacrifice a single paycheck so that Schumer can make himself feel better about being weak and weasely and unsuited to leadership.

I understand why you feel this way, but you have to understand how this post reads to the millions of people who *aren't* federal employees. It's all about your own personal job security - the government can shut down because you need your paycheck; the Dems are going to hurt more federal workers, etc. It's entirely self interested. No offense, but there are much more important things at issue than you missing a paycheck for a while. The primary concern of Democrats cannot and should not be the job security of the federal workforce, and your insistence that your own personal employment is the most important issue out there, while understandable, cannot be the basis for an opposition strategy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

sign off on a bill in which they’ve had no input, no discussions , no consideration

This is a clean CR - i.e., continuing the last Biden-era budget for 7 more weeks so appropriators can come to an agreement and an actual budget can be passed (in theory). Rescissions will need to be fought in the courts, not through a shutdown, and sorry, the Medicaid subsidy cuts were part of the OBBB Act. If people did not want that, they should have spoken out during the OBBB Act debate. The CR is not the correct vehicle, and federal workers should not have to bear the brunt of this yet again.

Are you under the impression at Democrats didn't "speak up" about subsidy cuts during the OBBBA debate? You should pay closer attention. They railed against the cuts, but there was nothing they could do about it. This is their opportunity - the only opportunity - to try to impact the cuts. You say the CR is not the correct vehicle - what precisely *is* the correct vehicle before the midterms?

If you lack a basic understanding of the processes at issue here, perhaps you should just not comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vought knows how to work within the rules to achieve his objectives. It would be silly to underestimate him. He will take the civil service system where he wants to take it and it will be upheld by every court.

He thought he could punk Congress with his pocket rescissions and got played bc even the White House realized you can’t withhold half the government’s funding and get away with it. So now they’ll try to fire all the staff associated with those programs because oops if you don’t have the staff to run the programs (bc let’s face it-they will be funded once the full year bill does get enacted), then you can’t get the money out the door bc no ppl there to do the work. What I’d like to know is who hurt this person to the point where they ended up so evil?

He’s such an ugly, bitter soul. I predict he’s going to spend much of his life alone after all of this, if he isn’t already. He claims to be a Christian, but he’s making his own personal Hell. He’ll wake up too late one day and realize he’s really his own worst enemy.

He will be in prison for the rest of his life, if he doesn’t die before 2029.

This is a trumpian comment that is both unhelpful and without foundation. Vought is a terrible person, yes - what laws has he broken? You are saying he should be prosecuted because you don't like what he has done. Just like Trump and Comey, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vought knows how to work within the rules to achieve his objectives. It would be silly to underestimate him. He will take the civil service system where he wants to take it and it will be upheld by every court.

He thought he could punk Congress with his pocket rescissions and got played bc even the White House realized you can’t withhold half the government’s funding and get away with it. So now they’ll try to fire all the staff associated with those programs because oops if you don’t have the staff to run the programs (bc let’s face it-they will be funded once the full year bill does get enacted), then you can’t get the money out the door bc no ppl there to do the work. What I’d like to know is who hurt this person to the point where they ended up so evil?

He’s such an ugly, bitter soul. I predict he’s going to spend much of his life alone after all of this, if he isn’t already. He claims to be a Christian, but he’s making his own personal Hell. He’ll wake up too late one day and realize he’s really his own worst enemy.

He will be in prison for the rest of his life, if he doesn’t die before 2029.

This is a trumpian comment that is both unhelpful and without foundation. Vought is a terrible person, yes - what laws has he broken? You are saying he should be prosecuted because you don't like what he has done. Just like Trump and Comey, right?

What laws has he broken? Probably every section of the Administrative Procedures Act. Let's see the budget, a-hole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how any fed can support a shut down but I’m surprised that some of you aren’t more seasoned with this. It’s been a tough year and, in some ways unprecedented, but jeez. We’re just going to have to wait and see. There’s no way around it. We’ve all been through long shut downs before, at least those of us with any tenure. I’m not paying attention to the RIF talk. Either we will or we won’t.

Deep breaths, people.

I don't know how you can look at what is happening and not support a shutdown. What is going on at your agency that makes you think everything is fine?

At my agency, we're all still doing our jobs. The mandate remains the same. And people need to get paid. A shutdown will solve nothing. It never does. Those clowns (and I mean all of them) can't do crap. But, I'm not going to worry about this. This all falls into the category of things that I cannot control.

[Anonymous]

They just need 6 (they already have Fetterman) Ds to flip in the Senate and vote for the CR. They can find the centrists who don’t want a shutdown-easy. Schumer doesn’t have solidarity within his caucus to carry this. While I applaud his intent, this is all a show so he doesn’t look weak given he’s about to face off with AOC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got update Hill tonight, shutdown will be two week minimum, it is definitely on. Good news payroll is run 9/30 before shutdown.

the 9/30 payroll was always going to run. we are funded through 9/30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vought knows how to work within the rules to achieve his objectives. It would be silly to underestimate him. He will take the civil service system where he wants to take it and it will be upheld by every court.

He thought he could punk Congress with his pocket rescissions and got played bc even the White House realized you can’t withhold half the government’s funding and get away with it. So now they’ll try to fire all the staff associated with those programs because oops if you don’t have the staff to run the programs (bc let’s face it-they will be funded once the full year bill does get enacted), then you can’t get the money out the door bc no ppl there to do the work. What I’d like to know is who hurt this person to the point where they ended up so evil?

He’s such an ugly, bitter soul. I predict he’s going to spend much of his life alone after all of this, if he isn’t already. He claims to be a Christian, but he’s making his own personal Hell. He’ll wake up too late one day and realize he’s really his own worst enemy.

He will be in prison for the rest of his life, if he doesn’t die before 2029.

This is a trumpian comment that is both unhelpful and without foundation. Vought is a terrible person, yes - what laws has he broken? You are saying he should be prosecuted because you don't like what he has done. Just like Trump and Comey, right?

What laws has he broken? Probably every section of the Administrative Procedures Act. Let's see the budget, a-hole.

Assuming that's true, what criminal penalties attach to that? Individual criminal penalties that would lead to him spending the rest of his life in prison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They just need 6 (they already have Fetterman) Ds to flip in the Senate and vote for the CR. They can find the centrists who don’t want a shutdown-easy. Schumer doesn’t have solidarity within his caucus to carry this. While I applaud his intent, this is all a show so he doesn’t look weak given he’s about to face off with AOC.

If it’s so easy, why are we debating this in a 24 page thread?

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure what a shutdown would accomplish. Trump wants to get rid of tons of Federal workers and have their work stop. He'll declare things he likes or is neutral on (ICE, TSA, parts of DoD) essential, and those people will continue working without pay.

[Anonymous]

I’d like the Ds to stand up, but maybe these health ins cuts need to go into effect for people to start feeling the pain and seeing what Trump and the Rs are really doing.

Unfortunately, I think this may be correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure what a shutdown would accomplish. Trump wants to get rid of tons of Federal workers and have their work stop. He'll declare things he likes or is neutral on (ICE, TSA, parts of DoD) essential, and those people will continue working without pay.

They’re already rehiring people who took the DRP and months of paid leave and those people are negotiating things like remote work. They need staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 8:00 and I am a fed - and any fed who has been through the wringer this year and has family members dependent on their income and benefits does not support this shutdown. For those of you married to large law firm partners who don't really need your federal income, please take VERA and sit this debate out.

But if the result is much of USA losing aca benefits and medical insurance? Seems a fight worth fighting.