The largest union representing federal workers on Monday called for Democrats in Congress to end the ongoing government shutdown by voting for the stopgap funding measure that Republicans have proposed.
“It’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today,” Everett Kelly, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, wrote.
“No half measures, and no gamesmanship. Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today,” said Kelly, whose union represents more than 800,000 federal and District of Columbia government workers.
“Because when the folks who serve this country are standing in line for food banks after missing a second paycheck because of this shutdown, they aren’t looking for partisan spin,” Kelly said. “They’re looking for the wages they earned. The fact that they’re being cheated out of it is a national disgrace.”
The shutdown began on Oct. 1, and has led to about 900,000 federal workers being furloughed.
