FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Matt Dorsey
(202) 550-6987
September 25, 2025
Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM) is urging Congress to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. The White House and congressional Republican leaders have yet to hold bipartisan negotiations on the matter as the end of the month deadline approaches. Temporary funding bills known as continuing resolutions were rejected by Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate last week, paving the way for a lapse in funding or “government shutdown,” at midnight on Tuesday.
“A government shutdown would be harmful to all Americans, not just federal workers,” said NFFE National President Randy Erwin. “Every community depends on a federal workers to deliver essential services that protect families, safeguard communities, and keep the country moving forward.
“Federal workers and the American people should not be treated as pawns,” continued Erwin. “President Trump’s threat to use a shutdown as leverage to illegally fire more civil servants does not just punish workers – it undermines food safety inspections, law enforcement support, intelligence gathering, defense operations, and countless other essential missions that keep the American public safe.
“Despite repeated claims by the Trump administration of an oversized workforce, this could not be further from the truth. The Executive Branch has not grown since the late 1940s. Discretionary government spending is down to 6% of GDP – the lowest in modern history – and pay and benefits for the federal workforce are also at record lows as a share of GDP. We now have the smallest per-capita and least expensive federal workforce since GDP tracking began. Further cuts to the workforce are not only unnecessary, they endanger America’s security and prosperity.
“Congress must come to a bipartisan solution to avoid a shutdown. This deal must put the American people first – which means funding the government without layoffs to federal workers doing critical work every day. If a shutdown occurs or civil servants are recklessly fired for partisan reasons, the American people will suffer the consequences.”