Empower Missouri’s Statement on the Government Shutdown

We’re on day seven of a government shutdown, and there’s no end in sight. In the US, we’ve endured 11 shutdowns (including this one) since 1980, when we began requiring all nonessential government activities to cease when legislation to finance government operations hasn’t been passed before the start of the fiscal year. (The federal fiscal year is October 1st – September 30th.) However, most of these shutdowns have lasted less than four days and have had a very minimal impact on the life of average Americans. The longest shutdown on record was 35 days, during the first Trump administration. 

So, is this just business as usual? Or should we be concerned? 

In some ways, it is too soon to tell. As of now, it seems that most Americans aren’t feeling the impact of the shutdown. USPS is operating normally. The IRS has not been affected yet. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are considered essential services and benefits will continue to be paid out as scheduled. Student financial aid programs are continuing without interruption. 

On the other hand, approximately 750,000 federal employees across the country have been furloughed and other essential federal employees, including the military, will not receive their paychecks during the shutdown, although they are entitled to backpay. This has the potential to create substantial hardship for working class families. During the last shutdown in 2018-2019, air travelers started to see more substantial delays at airports as TSA employees and air traffic controllers called in sick to work so that they could meet family obligations (childcare, eldercare, etc.) or in protest over not receiving their paychecks. 

All of this feels pretty typical for a shutdown. 

However, what doesn’t feel typical is the hyperpartisan rhetoric being bandied about by Republican leaders in the White House. Since the shutdown started, we’ve been seeing images like this posted online on official government accounts: 

According to reporting from the Federal News Network, the nonprofit advocacy group Public Citizen filed nine complaints with the Office of Special Counsel alleging government violations of the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that prohibits government employees from engaging in political activity while at work. Political activity is defined as “activity directed at the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group.” This includes the “use any email account or social media to distribute, send, or forward content that advocates for or against a partisan political party.”

A statement from Craig Holman, a government ethics expert at Public Citizen, read: “The Trump administration is violating the Hatch Act with reckless abandon, using taxpayer dollars to plaster partisan screeds on every government homepage that they can get their hands on.” And indeed, at the time of writing this article on the evening of Monday, October 6th, homepages of many government websites were actively carrying these messages: 

In addition, mass emails were sent to federal employees blaming Democrats for the shutdown. And, even more shockingly, NPR reports that some government employees have discovered that a partisan “out-of-office” reply was set up on their email account after they were furloughed. The message reads in part, “Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations, I am currently in furlough status.” These auto-responders were set up without the consent of employees and several employees found that if they edited the message to their own language, it was then changed back by someone else with access to their account. As a result, a federal workers union is suing the Trump Administration for first amendment violations. 

To be clear: this isn’t normal, and it isn’t acceptable behavior from government officials.

All elected officials have a responsibility to work together to keep the government operating for the good of the people. There are fair arguments on both sides about who is “responsible” for the shutdown. American voters should consider the cases being made by the political parties about the budget bill and determine what side of the issue that they come down on. 

However, this is difficult when Republicans are using their considerable government platforms to lie to American people about Congressional Democrats’ demands. 

A quick note before I continue: Empower Missouri always has been and always will be a nonpartisan agency with a primary mission of ending poverty in Missouri. In recent years, we have enjoyed robust partnerships with legislators from both major political parties who have led the charge to pass important anti-poverty policy reforms in the Missouri legislature. We wholeheartedly hope to continue this rich tradition of helping politicians to reach across the aisle to meet the basic needs of Missourians. 

However, I believe that we, and all Americans, have a responsibility to call out inappropriate actions from our nation’s leaders, regardless of their party affiliation. I have found it reprehensible to watch Republican leadership in D.C. push a blatantly false narrative that the government is shut down because Democrats want “free healthcare for illegals.” So, let’s be clear about the facts:

1. Democrats are opposing the budget bill in order to a) reverse the cuts to healthcare passed earlier this year under HR1 and b) call for an extension of enhanced premium tax credits for those who purchase Affordable Care Act (ACA) healthcare plans directly from the government. The tax credits are currently set to expire at the end of 2025. This article does a great job explaining the details, but the primary takeaway is that premium payments are expected to double for 2026 for the average American if the tax credits expire. (93% of Americans participating in an ACA healthcare plan receive a premium tax credit.)
2. Under federal law, individuals residing in this country without legal status are not eligible to receive or purchase marketplace health coverage, as clearly stated on this government website. As such, they will not benefit in any way from the extension of the premium tax credits. 
3. Some arguments from Republicans seem to be focused on Emergency Medicaid, a program that reimburses hospitals for providing emergency services to individuals who meet Medicaid requirements (such as income eligibility) but cannot receive Medicaid due to their immigration status. KFF reports that Emergency Medicaid spending is less than one percent of the Medicaid budget. Hospitals are required by law to provide emergency care to anyone who needs it under the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) signed into law in 1986 under President Ronald Reagan. Per this great explainer from the Center for Children & Families at Georgetown University, rolling back changes to Emergency Medicaid passed under HR1 would not increase healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants, it would only change who pays for it. 

As an anti-poverty policy organization, we stand with legislators who are trying to prevent millions of Americans from losing their health insurance in the years ahead. We strongly believe that our country’s core promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” must include affordable access to healthcare. This is a basic need that our government should meet for all of its citizens. We’re not the only ones– new polling from KFF shows that 78% of the public wants Congress to extend the premium tax credits. The same poll shows that 70% of individuals purchasing marketplace healthcare plans would not be able to afford their premiums next year if they double as projected, and 42% say that they would expect to be newly uninsured under those circumstances. 

Some might argue that Democrats could score more political points in the long run by allowing the tax credits to expire and Americans to suffer as a result. After all, 80% of all premium tax credits benefit enrollees in states where Trump won in the 2024 election. They could allow the credits to expire and capitalize on the hardship and anger that would erupt amongst the Republican base as a result. I deeply value that they aren’t going that route. We should never play politics with peoples’ lives. 

I hope that our nation’s leaders will come back to the negotiating table and work out a compromise that will prevent at least some Americans from losing their healthcare coverage. A recent Quinnipiac poll showed that nearly 80% of Americans believe that we’re in a political crisis, including 60% of Republicans and 93% of Democrats. A CBS/YouGov poll shows that the majority of Americans don’t approve of how either party is handling the shutdown, and a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll shows that 70% of American voters disapprove of the shutdown. It is time for our leaders to listen to their constituents and end the shutdown before more negative consequences emerge and Americans lose all faith in our government.