Working at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration has been challenging for Lilly Simmons, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3428.
“We’re doing our best to continue our mission, to support human health and the environment,” she told reporters last Friday (Oct. 3) at a press conference arranged by US Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who represents the state’s 7th Congressional District.
“It’s really hard,” she said. “This lapse of appropriations from Republicans in Congress is another attack on federal workers, and all of the services that we provide to the American people.”
Like many federal workers, Simmons is working without knowing whether or when she will be paid again.
“We’re going off to work and we’re doing what we can, because this is what we were put here for — to serve the American people to the best of our ability, and for myself, that is to protect human health and environment,” she said.
The shutdown came after Democrats sought to stop their Republican colleagues from making cuts to federal health care subsidies many Americans rely on. They argue that the cuts came about because of the Trump administration’s spending bill, which the president refers to as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” cut taxes for wealthy earners and corporations, forcing cuts to many social safety net programs.
Trump administration officials last week posted messages on federal websites blaming Democrats for the shutdown — in violation of a federal law that bans government resources from being used for electoral politics.
Pressley and other Democrats say the blame lies with the GOP.
“Let’s remember, Republicans control the House, Senate, and the White House,” Pressley said on Friday. “They’ve been telling us all this time that they have a mandate. Well, do something with it. This GOP shutdown was entirely preventable. They keep talking about this mandate they have, but they have yet to do a single thing with this so-called mandate that actually helps people, instead of enacting more hurt and harm.”
With Pressley at the press conference, held in SEIU 32-BJ’s West Street office, were government employees, union representatives, and social service providers who stand to see a loss of funding if the Republicans’ spending bill goes forward.
“It’s going to hit us hard,” said Charley Murphy, president and CEO of the Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center in Dorchester. “Medicaid is a big part of what we do.”
In the lead-up to the shutdown, Republican lawmakers introduced a continuing resolution that would have provided funding through Nov. 21. Democrats, however, insisted that the resolution include a reversal of cuts to Medicaid and continued funding for the Affordable Care Act — more commonly know as Obamacare.
Republicans countered, arguing that Democrats were seeking to extend benefits to people who are in the United States without documentation. While Medicaid is limited to US citizens, some states provide care for undocumented immigrants through the Affordable Care Act.
Facing a cut to Medicaid that budget analysts estimate will amount to $1 trillion over the next ten years, Democrats refused to support the Republicans’ continuing resolution.
While local nonprofit and labor leaders are anxious about the economic impacts of the shutdown — both for government workers and for those who rely on government services – some say the prospect of deep cuts to the health care on which many state residents rely is equally troubling.
“We know the pending cuts to Medicaid will hit our patients hard,” said Sean Cahill, director of health policy research at Fenway Health. “This administration is hostile and anti-science, anti-LGBTQ, anti-women, and anti-immigrant, and we are antithetical to all that.”
Nick Smith, vice-president at SEIU 1199, said the GOP’s Medicaid cuts will leave thousands of Massachusetts residents without health insurance, forcing many to receive care in emergency rooms.
“Massachusetts is set to lose $3.5 billion that’s currently going to health care and food assistance,” he said. “Many of the people who are going to lose their health care, including 36,000 Massachusetts residents, are essential care workers themselves, like our home care and PCAs and our home health aides in our nursing homes.”
At the same time, Smith said, the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies, including the removal of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, will further impact health care in Massachusetts.
“If they lose their status, many of our nursing homes will be severely understaffed and that will ultimately hurt patient care,” he said.
When the government shutdown went into effect Oct. 1, it wasn’t just government employees who went home without paychecks.
Janitors, security guards and airport workers who support vital government functions but work for privately owned government contractors are also facing uncertainty as the federal funds that pay their salaries have run dry. But when Republicans and Democrats finally hammer out a compromise, those contractors will not receive the back pay due federal workers.
“It’s shameful for Republicans to choose to bring more chaos to working families here in Massachusetts and across the country, rather than relief to thousands,” said Roxanna Rivera, assistant to the president of SEIU 32BJ, a union that represents security guards and janitors, who spoke during a press conference.
Pressley has introduced legislation, co-sponsored by Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota, to provide back pay for federal contractors. “Our bill would help ensure these folks are made whole,” she said.
As for the shutdown, Pressley said that Democrats are willing to roll up their sleeves and get back to work.
“We’re calling on Republicans to stop playing games with people’s lives and put forward a budget that reopens the government and addresses the healthcare crisis that they created,” she said.
“Democrats are ready to do just that. Ready to keep the government open. Ready to protect families and ready to mitigate the harm from this Republican made crisis. So the ball, really, is in the Republicans’ court.”
