live_tv
Livestream Starting Soon
00
Hours
:
00
Minutes
:
00
Seconds
Up next in 10
In this video, we break down how both parties have made small concessions — but not enough to end the standoff. Democrats and Republicans are protecting their political brands while federal employees go without pay. This video explores who’s really benefiting from the chaos — and why Washington’s image wars are leaving America’s workers caught in the crossfire.
Related Articles
Shutdown Theater: Why Federal Workers Are Pawns in Washington’s Image Wars
https://www.fedsmith.com/2025/10/25/shutdown-theater-federal-workers-paying-for-image-wars/
Gridlock in Washington: The Shutdown Showdown Continues
https://www.fedsmith.com/2025/10/22/washington-gridlock-shutdown-showdown-continues/
2025 Government Shutdown: What This Means for Your Federal Retirement
https://www.fedsmith.com/2025/10/24/2025-government-shutdown-what-this-means-for-your-federal-retirement/
Chapters
0:00 Federal Employees as Political Pawns in the Government Shutdown
1:48 What's Going on with the Shutdown?
2:03 Position of Republicans
4:21 Position of Democrats
5:24 What's Behind the Stalemate?
7:27 Mounting Pressures as Shutdown Continues
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
The topic of this video today is federal
0:03
employees as pawns in the political
0:06
battle of the shutdown. The shutdown is
0:10
a political battle. Federal employees
0:12
are right in the middle of it and that's
0:14
why I'm referring to them as ponds.
0:17
Actually, I'm not the first one to use
0:19
that term. AFG President Everick Kelly
0:22
used the term in a publication called
0:25
The People's World. He was quoted as
0:27
saying, "The shutdown is about using
0:31
federal employees as pawns." Exactly
0:33
what I was saying. Now, a pawn is simply
0:35
using a person for political purpose.
0:38
And that's what's happening with the
0:40
shutdown, at least in my view. A
0:43
political person in this case is a
0:45
party, Democrats and Republicans. Now,
0:48
President Kelly, I'm guessing, was
0:50
probably referring to mainly Republicans
0:54
using political employees as pawns. In
0:57
my view, it doesn't really make a lot of
0:59
difference. I think both parties are
1:01
using political purpose. They're trying
1:03
to use federal employees for their own
1:05
political purposes. Federal employees, a
1:08
lot of them are now sitting at home,
1:10
non-essential employees. They're not
1:13
getting paid. If they may get paid
1:15
later, but they may not. They don't
1:17
know. So, it's very stressful. Essential
1:19
employees are working. Uh they're not
1:22
getting paid. Presumably, they will be
1:24
paid, but the stress of not having the
1:28
money coming in, not being certain
1:30
you'll get paid later, is certainly
1:31
stressful for them, too. So, the
1:34
political ponds in this case, federal
1:36
employees, didn't ask for the shutdown,
1:38
don't want the shutdown. It's harmful to
1:41
them, and it's harmful to a lot of
1:43
Americans. So the parties are simply
1:45
using them as pawns for their own
1:48
purposes. Now what's going on? There's
1:51
actually some movement toward the
1:54
middle. That is between Democrats and
1:56
Republicans getting a little bit closer
1:58
together, but still pretty far apart.
2:01
And here's what's happening.
2:03
Republicans initially did not want
2:06
legislation that might weaken the
2:09
political pressure that they would have
2:11
against Democrats in the shutdown by
2:14
agreeing to anything involving the
2:17
Affordable Care Act or Obamacare before
2:20
they had a continuing resolution. They
2:23
just didn't want to do that and that was
2:25
their political posture. I'll explain
2:28
why in a second. They didn't want to
2:31
guarantee back pay or interim pay for
2:33
furled workers. And their rationale was
2:36
fiscal restraint. They wanted to appeal
2:38
to Republicans who want to cut spending
2:40
in the government. They don't like the $
2:42
38 trillion debt. Hopefully, nobody does
2:45
because that's unsustainable. But it is
2:47
a real problem and they want to cut back
2:49
on government spending. By agreeing to
2:52
what the Democrats want, it would
2:54
actually increase spending or certainly
2:56
keep it very close to what it is now. So
2:58
that's not the position that they wanted
3:01
to seek through this shutdown that's now
3:04
ongoing.
3:05
By midocctober they were modifying their
3:08
position somewhat and they introduced
3:10
something called the shutdown fairness
3:13
act that would ensure pay for accepted
3:16
workers. Uh that is those who are having
3:19
to report to duty even during the
3:22
funding lapse and even though they're
3:23
not getting paid. So there was movement
3:26
uh significant movement not sufficient
3:29
enough or not significant enough to sway
3:31
the Democrats to agree with them but
3:33
there was some movement in that regard.
3:36
Then finally, even though it's short of
3:39
full relief, two senators were saying,
3:41
"We might agree. they would consider
3:43
agreeing and consider negotiating with
3:45
others in their party to expand this act
3:48
that was proposed to appeal to
3:51
constituencies particularly in states
3:54
like Virginia, Maryland, and Texas with
3:56
large numbers of federal employees and
3:59
that it would
4:01
guarantee to all affected workers they
4:03
would get the back pay if Democrats
4:06
would delink health care subsidies from
4:08
the continuing resolution. Now, that
4:10
hasn't gone anywhere. Perhaps it will in
4:13
the future, but as of the time of this
4:15
recording, it's still sitting unresolved
4:19
uh by either or both parties. And what
4:22
about the Democrats?
4:24
What they are seeking is a
4:28
an extension of subsidies for Obamacare
4:32
or the Affordable Care Act. These
4:34
expired earlier. They want to have those
4:37
subsidies reenacted and they want to
4:40
have this done before they'll agree to
4:44
send employees back to work and to end
4:46
the shutdown. So far, that's been their
4:49
position. That's still their position.
4:51
Uh they have had some flexibility uh but
4:56
nothing along the lines of what would
4:58
encourage Republicans to go along with
5:00
it. There's some people in the
5:02
Democratic party who are saying we might
5:04
consider
5:06
allowing the employees to go back to
5:08
work, ending the shutdown with a firm
5:11
guarantee that we're going to negotiate
5:13
these subsidies. So far, that hasn't
5:16
been very persuasive even in the
5:18
Democratic party. So, nothing that's
5:20
gone forward uh is a possible solution.
5:24
So, what's happening? Why is this going
5:27
on? Well, first of all, Democrats and
5:30
Chuck Schumer is the Senate minority
5:34
leader. So, he's the leader of the
5:35
Democrats and he's facing a prospect of
5:38
challenge from the progressives in his
5:41
party. That is the left wing of the
5:42
Democratic party, especially from AOC,
5:46
uh, the Republican, sorry, a Democrat
5:49
from New York, and she may be
5:51
considering running against him in the
5:52
Senate
5:54
in the next election. So, we'll see if
5:58
that happens. He hasn't announced it,
6:00
but there's a lot of discussion about
6:01
it. There's a political undercurrent,
6:03
and Schumer doesn't want to appear weak
6:05
in dealing with the Republicans because
6:08
that would weaken him in his own party.
6:10
At the same time, John Thun, the
6:14
Republican leader uh for this showdown
6:16
issue, is concerned about the disparit
6:21
constituencies in the Republican party.
6:23
On the one hand, he's got some more
6:26
moderate Republicans uh who are willing
6:28
to go along with some of what the
6:31
Democrats want, but they're mainly
6:33
concerned with fiscal austerity. They
6:35
want to cut government spending. They're
6:37
concerned about the $ 38 trillion
6:39
deficit that we currently have or the
6:42
debt the debt of 38 trillion and they
6:44
want to stop adding to that and start
6:47
reducing it. On the other hand, you've
6:50
also got what I'll call MAGA
6:51
Republicans, make America great again,
6:53
coming from a Trump campaign slogan,
6:56
where they don't want to go along with
7:00
what the Democrats are seeking with
7:02
regard to these healthc care subsidies.
7:04
So, the healthc care subsidies appear to
7:06
be the major sticking point. Whether or
7:09
not the parties will come to an
7:10
agreement on that remains to be seen.
7:14
So there has been some retreat retreat
7:16
from both parties. Not much but some and
7:19
I suppose the incremental steps that are
7:22
being taken have the potential to
7:24
eventually get around to seeing an
7:26
agreement of some kind. Now obviously
7:29
the potential for pressure increasing is
7:32
obvious. Air traffic controllers
7:36
controlled obviously flights several
7:38
thousands of flights in a day have
7:40
recently been delayed because there
7:43
weren't enough air traffic controllers
7:45
showing up for work as we get closer to
7:47
Thanksgiving when you have hundreds of
7:49
thousands or even millions of Americans
7:51
flying somewhere and flight delays are
7:54
going to become a major problem. So you
7:56
can see where that's going to happen. In
7:58
addition, federal employees aren't being
8:00
paid. The military I don't think is
8:02
going to be paid although an anonymous
8:04
donor has donated in excess of $130
8:08
million to the department of defense or
8:10
now the department of war to pay these
8:13
military personnel. So that may happen
8:17
but that would be enough for the next
8:19
paycheck but it's not going to go along.
8:21
So the pressure is increasing every day
8:24
that this shut down shutdown continues.
8:26
What are the prospects for resolution?
8:29
The most obvious prospect and probably
8:32
the best one would be short-term
8:33
funding, a 30 to 45day continuing
8:36
resolution to reopen the agencies at
8:38
current spending levels. So far, that's
8:42
what the Republicans want. Uh the
8:44
Democrats aren't willing to go along
8:46
with it. So, there's a loggerheads on
8:48
that. Second possibility is adding in
8:51
worker protections either enactment or
8:53
incorporation of the shutdown fairness
8:56
act that has been proposed by
8:57
Republicans to ensure all employees
9:00
receive pay retroactively and
9:02
prospectively during future funding
9:04
lapses. Perhaps that'll be enough to get
9:07
the parties to move a little bit so that
9:09
they can agree to something that would
9:10
end the shutdown. And finally,
9:13
structured negotiations, a commitment to
9:15
hold bipartisan hearings on ACA
9:18
subsidies and to healthc care afford
9:20
affordability, possibly linked to a
9:23
separate health appropriations measure.
9:25
I don't know that the Democrats will go
9:27
along with that. I don't even know that
9:29
the Republicans will go along with that.
9:31
I think that's less likely. There is a
9:34
possibility, however slight, that the
9:37
Republicans and the Democrats are moving
9:39
toward the center, that is to some kind
9:42
of an agreement in the very near future.
9:45
My guess still is that it's likely that
9:48
this thing could go on until
9:49
Thanksgiving because the hardline
9:52
positions both parties are taking is
9:54
what's being presented to the public.
9:56
There's not a whole lot coming out even
9:59
to being discussed or no publications
10:01
from insiders as to how this is going to
10:04
be resolved yet. So, it's still a ways
10:06
away. In the meantime, we wish all of
10:08
you luck. We know you're not getting
10:10
paid and that's not fun. You're also
10:13
concerned about your security of
10:16
financial security for your family. So,
10:18
we will be thinking about you. We hope
10:20
this goes away quickly. As anything of
10:22
significance happens, FitSmith will keep
10:25
you advised, keep you informed, and we
10:27
wish you the best of luck. Thank you.
#Government
#Politics
#Public Policy