Urgent Senate Update: Trump's Government Shutdown

The first Donald Trump government shutdown, in 2018-2019, lasted 35 days. We are now on Day 24 of another Trump shutdown, and Marylanders and all Americans are suffering the consequences. 

President Trump and his Republican lackeys in Congress are hurting federal workers to advance their lawless agenda and cement the huge health care cuts they made in their so-called Big Beautiful Bill. Right now, I am fighting to responsibly reopen the government and support Marylanders impacted by Trump’s shutdown. I have now voted seven times to reopen the government without giving Trump a blank check for his lawless actions and in a way that will prevent a huge spike in health costs for Marylanders and others around the country.  

It is time for President Trump to come to the table to talk about how we can reopen the government and prevent skyrocketing health care costs. Unfortunately, while federal workers go without pay, Trump is focused on tearing down the East Wing of the White House and giving his buddy in Argentina a $40 billion taxpayer-financed bailout. Meanwhile, Speaker Johnson and the Republicans in the House have been AWOL on a five-week paid vacation. They are clearly more focused on keeping the Epstein files locked up than opening up the government.  

Maryland is home to tens of thousands of dedicated federal workers and servicemembers who protect our country, discover new treatments and cures to diseases that harm American families, track the weather at NOAA, train firefighters at FEMA, keep flights safe and on time, and administer Social Security and Medicare benefits. The list of vital missions goes on and on. We are also home to contractors who support federal government operations in many ways, including as cafeteria workers, security guards, and maintenance staff. None of these workers deserve to bear the brunt of a political dispute they had nothing to do with. As we work to reopen the government, we must do everything in our power to help them weather the storm.  

As discussed further below, just yesterday, I asked the Senate to vote for my plan to ensure that no federal employee, service member, or federal contractor would bear the burden of a shutdown that they have nothing to do with. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans blocked that plan, but we are in discussions to see if we can find common ground.  

If you or a loved one is being affected by the shutdown, my team has compiled a list of resources here—including FAQs about the shutdown and resources from Governor Moore and the State of Maryland. My casework team remains hard at work; please contact my office if we can help you further.  

For further updates, please follow me on Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, and Twitter/X.  

We will do everything we can to help affected workers, but this shutdown was avoidable. How did we get here? There are two big issues at play: health care costs and Trump’s abuse of executive power.   

Fighting a Spike in Health Care Costs for Families  

During the Biden Administration, Democrats strengthened the Affordable Care Act with enhanced premium tax credits that drove record enrollment in the ACA marketplace and made health care more affordable for tens of millions of Americans. Not a single Republican voted in favor of our legislation to do that. And now Republicans want to let those premium tax credits expire at the end of this year—causing approximately 4 million Americans to lose their coverage, making insurance premium costs skyrocket for over 20 million, and pushing up costs on everyone throughout the health care system. 

Unless Trump and Republicans in Congress change course, premiums will rise by 35% for 190,000 Marylanders, and 30,000 will lose their health insurance entirely because they won’t be able to afford it. Some Maryland families could see their health costs triple. You may have already received a renewal notice about your rising health care premiums for 2026. Congress needs to act now to extend these tax credits and stop those rising costs before open enrollment begins on November 1st.  That’s why I joined Congresswoman Delaney and Senator Alsobrooks in sending a bicameral letter to Republican Leadership urging them to swiftly and responsibly reopen the federal government and protect Marylanders’ access to health care.  

This ticking time bomb for health care costs comes on top of the nearly 10 million people, including 242,000 Marylanders, who will lose Medicaid and ACA coverage because of the Big, Ugly Betrayal bill that Trump and Republicans passed in July. That bill permanently extended tax cuts for billionaires but allowed tax cuts that help middle-class families afford health insurance to lapse. It’s estimated that the Republican bill combined with their failure to extend the ACA tax credits will result in over 50,000 preventable deaths every single year. 

Without action, Americans’ health—and American lives—are at risk. That’s why Democrats proposed a bill to permanently extend these tax credits and reduce out-of-pocket health care costs for working families, but Republicans decided they would rather ignore the problem, let costs increase, and shut down the government than defuse their ticking time bomb. We don’t have time for their games; we need to act now.  

Defending Checks and Balances  

The other major issue is this: since Day 1, Donald Trump and his henchman, Russ Vought, have been ripping up the Constitution and turning our system of checks and balances into one-man rule. With various illegal maneuvers, they have ignored laws they don’t like and canceled government funding for a wide range of programs, from lifesaving medical treatments to FEMA emergency food and shelter. The president is not a king; he doesn’t have the power to cherry-pick the law and unilaterally cancel any program he doesn’t like.

Even now, Trump’s henchman, Russ Vought, is illegally defunding programs in “Democrat” states and playing political games with everything from infrastructure to energy cost-saving projects. On October 10, he announced the illegal, baseless firing of thousands of federal workers. I rallied with my colleagues to condemn these outrageous  firings, which have already been paused by the courts. A shutdown results in federal employees being furloughed temporarily, but it does NOT give the president the power to fire federal employees permanently.

And last Saturday, I joined with patriots across Maryland and America to stand up to Trump’s abuse of power at “No Kings” marches, including in Montgomery, Howard, and Baltimore counties. I salute every American who’s standing up to confront this lawless president. At the end of the day, only We the People can save our democracy and protect our Constitution.

Fighting for Our Federal Workers  

After Trump’s 2019 shutdown, Senator Cardin and I passed a law with bipartisan support that guarantees back pay for all federal employees once the government reopens. Donald Trump signed that bill into law. Despite what Russ Vought says, the law is the law. And recently, I joined my colleagues to introduce legislation that would secure the same guarantee of back pay for federal contractors—including janitorial, food service, and security workers. Here’s some other work I’m doing to support those impacted by the shutdown:   

Most recently, I led over 25 of my Senate colleagues in introducing the True Shutdown Fairness Act—legislation that would pay all federal excepted and furloughed employees as well as our servicemembers and federal contractors during the current Republican-led shutdown. This bill would also prevent Trump and Russ Vought’s attempts at mass firings during the shutdown. While the Republicans are hell-bent on letting Trump decide who should get paid and who gets fired, our legislation ensures that all federal workers and servicemembers are no longer harmed by the ongoing shutdown that they had nothing to do with. While Republicans blocked my attempt to pass this legislation, I will continue my effort to fight for federal workers, servicemembers, and contractors.

• I have also rallied Members of Congress to call upon 22 major energy, water, and broadband utility companies to avoid imposing service shutoffs and other penalties for late or missed payments on federal government employees who are not receiving pay during the government shutdown.  

•  I am also leading efforts to call upon bank regulators to ensure banks provide flexibility for their impacted depositors and have introduced legislation to require such flexibility going forward. 

• I have worked with Senator Alsobrooks and Representative Elfreth to introduce the HELP Feds Act, which would ensure access to unemployment insurance during the period of the shutdown for federal employees who are working without pay.  
  
  
• I have joined Senator Schatz in sponsoring the Federal Employee Civil Relief Act, which protects federal workers impacted by the shutdown from being evicted, having cars or other property repossessed, falling behind on student loan payments, having negative impacts on their credit history, and losing insurance because of missed premiums.   
  
  
• I am working with Senator Kaine on the Emergency Relief for Federal Workers Act, which waives penalties for workers who make hardship TSP withdrawals and enables them to repay the distributions after the shutdown ends. And I have joined Senator Cortez Masto on the Emergency Relief for Federal Contractors Act, which waives the early distribution penalty from IRAs for federal contractors impacted by the shutdown.  
  

Onwards, 

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