Maine AFL-CIO Statement on Trump Shutdown

On Wednesday, nearly 750,000 workers nationwide will be locked out, put on leave (furloughed) or forced to work without pay due to the Trump administration’s stubborn refusal to address the mounting health care crisis and fund the government. Below is a statement from Maine AFL-CIO President Cynthia Phinney.

“For months, the Trump administration and DOGE have targeted federal employees and gutted federal programs we all rely on, without any accountability. Now the President is shutting down the government because he refuses to bargain in good faith and fix the healthcare crisis that will devastate our rural hospitals and jack up health care costs for working class Mainers. Without a funding agreement, nearly 180 million Americans are facing a health care cost spike—a crisis of the administration’s own making. Upwards of 31,000 low-come Mainers will lose coverage and Maine’s struggling hospitals will lose $24 billion in annual revenue due to the President’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act.’ In addition, health insurance costs through the Affordable Care Act marketplace will more than double if enhanced subsidies expire at the end of the year. Working families and our rural hospitals simply cannot sustain this massive blow to their budgets – especially while billionaires get tax breaks.

“This administration has already pushed 1 in 8 federal workers — 300,000 people –out the door this year alone. The President has illegally stripped more than 1 million workers of their collective bargaining rights and canceled nearly 480,000 workers’ union contracts. These are men and women — nearly 30 percent of whom are veterans — who deliver essential services to Mainers like Social Security, food and water safety, protecting our national security and care for our veterans. To add insult to injury, the President has announced that he intends to retaliate by firing more federal employees and eliminating programs Mainers rely on. The attacks on workers must end.

“Federal workers and their families should not be used as pawns to play political games. It’s time for the President to end the shutdown, fund the government, fix the healthcare crisis, and stop his illegal attacks on working Americans.”

On Tuesday, federal employees sued to block the Trump administration from conducting mass layoffs during the government shutdown.