government shutdown

NEW: Judge temporarily blocks the Trump administration from firing workers during the government shutdown

By The Associated Press
1/4

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration for now must stop firing workers during the government shutdown, a federal judge ordered on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco said the cuts appeared to be politically motivated and were being carried out without much thought.

“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost,” she said. “It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”

She granted a temporary restraining order blocking the job cuts, saying she believed the evidence would ultimately show the cuts were illegal and in excess of authority.

Emails sent to the White House and the Office of Management and Budget after the judge’s ruling Wednesday were not immediately returned.a dawdawd

The judge’s decision came after federal agencies on Friday started issuing layoff notices aimed at reducing the size of the federal government. The layoff notices are part of an effort by Trump’s Republican administration to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.

The American Federation of Government Employees and other federal labor unions had asked Illston to block the administration from issuing new layoff notices and implementing those that were already sent out. The unions said the firings were an abuse of power designed to punish workers and pressure Congress.

Illston’s order came as the shutdown, which started Oct. 1, entered its third week. Democratic lawmakers are demanding that any deal to reopen the federal government address their health care demands. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted the shutdown may become the longest in history, saying he “won’t negotiate” with Democrats until they hit pause on those demands and reopen.

Democrats have demanded that health care subsidies, first put in place in 2021 and extended a year later, be extended again. They also want any government funding bill to reverse the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill passed this summer.

The Trump administration has been paying the military and pursuing its crackdown on immigration while slashing jobs in health and education, including in special education and after-school programs. Trump said programs favored by Democrats are being targeted and “they’re never going to come back, in many cases.”

In a court filing, the administration said it planned to fire more than 4,100 employees across eight agencies.

The unions say the layoff notices are an illegal attempt at political pressure and retribution and are based on the false premise that a temporary funding lapse eliminates Congress’ authorization of agency programs.

The government says the district court lacks jurisdiction to hear employment decisions made by federal agencies.

Government shutdown could be the longest ever, House Speaker Johnson warns

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted Monday the federal government shutdown may become the longest in history, saying he “won’t negotiate” with Democrats until they hit pause on their health care demands and reopen.

Standing alone at the Capitol on the 13th day of the shutdown, the speaker said he was unaware of the details of the thousands of federal workers being fired by the Trump administration. It’s a highly unusual mass layoff widely seen as way to seize on the shutdown to reduce the scope of government. Vice President JD Vance has warned of “painful” cuts ahead, even as employee unions sue.

“We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history,” Johnson of Louisiana said.

With no endgame in sight, the shutdown is expected to roll on for the unforeseeable future. The closure has halted routine government operations, shuttered Smithsonian museums and other landmark cultural institutions and left airports scrambling with flight disruptions, all injecting more uncertainty into an already precarious economy.

The House is out of legislative session, with Johnson refusing to recall lawmakers back to Washington, while the Senate, closed Monday for the federal holiday, will return to work Tuesday. But senators are stuck in a cul-de-sac of failed votes as Democrats refuse to relent on their health care demands.

Johnson thanked President Donald Trump for ensuring military personnel are paid this week, which removed one main pressure point that may have pushed the parties to the negotiating table. The Coast Guard is also receiving pay, a senior administration official confirmed Monday. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss plans that have yet to be formally rolled out.

At its core, the shutdown is a debate over health care policy — particularly the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are expiring for millions of Americans who rely on government aid to purchase their own health insurance policies on the Obamacare exchanges. Democrats demand the subsidies be extended, but Republicans argue the issue can be dealt with later.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said with Republicans having essentially shut down the chamber now for a fourth week, no real negotiations are underway. They’re “nowhere to be found,” he said on MSNBC.

With Congress and the White House stalemated, some are eyeing the end of the month as the next potential deadline to reopen government.

Open enrollment begins Nov. 1 for the health program at issue, and Americans will face the prospect of skyrocketing insurance premiums. The Kaiser Family Foundation has estimated that monthly costs would double if Congress fails to renew the subsidy payments that expire Dec. 31.

At the end of October, government workers on monthly pay schedules, including thousands of House aides, will go without paychecks.

A persistent issue

The health care debate has dogged Congress ever since the Affordable Care Act became law under then-President Barack Obama in 2010.

The country went through a 16-day government shutdown during the Obama presidency when Republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2013.

Trump tried to “repeal and replace” the law, commonly known as Obamacare, during his first term, in 2017, with a Republican majority in the House and Senate. That effort failed when then-Sen. John McCain memorably voted thumbs-down on the plan.

With 24 million now enrolled in Obamacare, a record, Johnson said Monday that Republicans are unlikely to go that route again, noting he still has “PTSD” from that botched moment.

“Can we completely repeal and replace Obamacare? Many of us are skeptical about that now because the roots are so deep,” Johnson said.

The Republican speaker insists his party has been willing to discuss the health care issue with Democrats this fall, before the subsidies expire at the end of the year. But first, he said, Democrats have to agree to reopen the government.

The longest shutdown, during Trump’s first term over his demands for funds to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall, ended in 2019 after 35 days.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is exercising vast leeway both to fire workers — drawing complaints from fellow Republicans and lawsuits from employee unions — and to determine who is paid.

That means not only military troops but other Trump administration priorities don’t necessarily have to go without pay, thanks to the various other funding sources as well as the billions made available in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is now law.

The Pentagon said over the weekend it was able to tap $8 billion in unused research and development funds to pay the military personnel. They had risked missed paychecks on Wednesday. But the Education Department is among those being hard hit, disrupting special education, after-school programs and others.

“The Administration also could decide to use mandatory funding provided in the 2025 reconciliation act or other sources of mandatory funding to continue activities financed by those direct appropriations at various agencies,” according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO had cited the departments of Defense, Treasury and Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget as among those that received specific funds under the law.

“Some of the funds in DoD’s direct appropriation under the 2025 reconciliation act could be used to pay active-duty personnel during a shutdown, thus reducing the number of excepted workers who would receive delayed compensation,” CBO wrote in a letter responding to questions raised by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.

Amid shutdown fears, Rep. Don Beyer emotional letters from government workers

By James Jarvis
U.S. Capitol (photo by Hallie LeTendre)

Amid fears of a government shutdown, Rep. Don Beyer (D) is urging colleagues to remember the federal workers who would lose their paychecks if no spending plan is passed.

Yesterday, House Republicans recessed for a week after failing to pass a bill to stave off a shutdown. That could happen if lawmakers on Capitol Hill do not reach a deal before the federal government runs out of money next Saturday, Sept. 30 at midnight.

If that happens, essential workers — including military personnel, federal law enforcement and air traffic controllers — would continue working, possibly without pay.

Some 2.2 million permanent, civilian, non-postal employees could also miss their paychecks, Beyer said in a statement Wednesday. This includes more than 140,000 in Virginia, according to federal workforce data.

The last time this happened, in 2018, Beyer received letters from Virginia federal workers describing how they and their families were hurt by lost wages and benefits. He shared snippets of these letters this week.

“I am a single mother to three small children. My ability to provide for my children stops the moment the government goes into shutdown,” wrote one constituent in a 2018.

Another federal worker underscored the uncertainty a shutdown causes.

“It is the undefined length of this shutdown, the not knowing, that is the worst part,” the letter said. “Nevertheless, we continue to go to work each day without pay and without knowing what the future holds.”

Millions of government contractors also stand to lose their pay and benefits. Beyer shared a 2019 letter describing the lengths to which one owner of a small federal contracting business went to keep paying staff.

“I have expended out available cash and have taken loans against my home to keep paying our employees,” wrote the business owner and disabled veteran. “I am now at a decision point. Do I borrow more money, or do I lay off my hardworking employees?”

Unlike federal employees, contractors are not guaranteed back pay from missed wages. Around 10,000 companies with government contracts were affected by the 2018-19 shutdown, the Washington Post reported.

With the funding deadline looming, Beyer says his colleagues should remember these 2018 shutdown testimonies and consider most Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

“Many are caught up in palace intrigue and legislative drama right now, but I urge my colleagues to remember that there are a lot of real people out there who will be hurt if there is a government shutdown,” he said. “These letters and emails show how shutdowns are a disaster for my constituents, our region, and millions of Americans across the country.”

The shutdown may also affect everyday Americans who do not rely on a paycheck from the federal government, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D) says.

Kaine emphasized in a press release that the 2018 shutdown led to delays in everything from flights to tax refunds and mortgage approvals due to the absence of thousands of furloughed employees, including air traffic controllers and IRS agents.

“While I will continue working with my colleagues to prevent a shutdown, we should never be in this position to begin with,” Kaine said.

Earlier this month Kaine and Beyer introduced the End Shutdowns Act, which would have initiated an automatic continuing resolution on Oct. 1 if no appropriations bill was passed by that time. Additionally, the will would have”stop[ped] the Senate from moving forward with any other legislation, outside of an emergency scenario, until Congress reached an agreement on a long-term spending deal.”

Arlington Lawmakers Hail Government Shutdown’s End, Slam Trump for Starting Border Wall Fight

By Alex Koma

The longest federal government shutdown in the country’s history now seems to be over, at least temporarily, and Arlington’s congressional delegation is feeling cautiously optimistic.

President Trump announced today (Friday) that he would sign a bill to fund the vast majority of government agencies for the next three weeks, through Feb. 15, as Congress continues to negotiate on Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to construct a wall on the country’s southern border.

So long as lawmakers, and Trump himself, follow through on this plan, the government would re-open for the first time in 35 days. The proposed funding deal does not include any money for a wall, in a capitulation for the president, who orchestrated the shutdown in order to force a conflict over funding for one of his signature campaign promises.

The tentative deal strikes Northern Virginia’s representatives as quite good news indeed, as many had spent the shutdown railing against its impact on federal workers and the region’s economy, arguing that the shutdown was all in service of a goal that few Americans support.

Of course, Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th District) did point out that Trump is currently backing a deal Democrats offered him back in late December.

“I’m grateful that the shutdown will end soon, but I do not understand why it happened at all,” Beyer wrote in a statement. “Why did President Trump inflict this shutdown on the country?… It inflicted extreme pain on the people I represent, and there was no reason for it. As the president approaches the new deadline he just agreed to for the expiration of government funding, he must think of people besides himself. This must never happen again.”

Trump said in his speech Friday that he plans to ensure that federal workers receive back pay to cover the costs of the month-long shutdown “very quickly or as soon as possible.”

Businesses around Arlington and the rest of D.C. had rallied together to offer a variety of deals to support furloughed workers, while the county itself offered limited financial aid as well. Metro’s leaders had even contemplated making rides free for federal workers in a vote this afternoon, but officials have backed off from those plans.

Photo via @whitehouse

Local Chain South Block Now Offering Free Smoothies for Feds on Fridays

By Alex Koma

An Arlington-based smoothie chain is now offering giveaways over the next month for federal employees feeling a squeeze from the seemingly interminable government shutdown.

South Block will now hand out free regular smoothies every Friday between now and March 1. All you have to do to claim one is show a valid federal government ID.

The smoothie and juice shop has been blending up drinks at its original Clarendon location (3011 11th Street N.) for years now, and also operates stores in East Falls Church, Alexandria, Vienna and some neighborhoods in D.C. South Block will also be opening locations in Rosslyn and at the Ballston Quarter development in the coming months.

The company has even recently partnered with a Georgetown-based coffee roaster, Grace Street Coffee, to offer some caffeinated beverage options alongside its normal drink selection at the chain’s Clarendon location.

South Block is far from the only local business offering deals for government employees across the region.

The salad chain Sweetgreen has also been offering giveaways, and even recently announced it would be handing out free signature bowls to federal employees this Saturday (Jan. 26) from 6-8 p.m.

County officials have also offered a variety of resources for feds missing out on paychecks, as has Arlington’s main food bank.

File photo

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

A Wall that Divided Arlington Still Stands — “The wall was erected in a section of Arlington County in the 1930s to separate black residents from white residents. And for decades, it did just that. It kept segregation intact by creating a physical barrier between an ‘us’ and a ‘them.'” [Washington Post]

Coming Soon: Happy Hour Advertising? — “A lawsuit filed against the state by a Northern Virginia restaurateur could be the motivation the General Assembly needs to change laws that restrict happy hour advertising.” [Virginia Mercury]

Demand for Free Pet Food Rises — The Animal Welfare League of Arlington says it has seen an increase in demand for its free pet food pantry during the government shutdown. [Twitter]

Resources for Furloughed Feds — Congressman Don Beyer’s (D-Va.) office has compiled a list of resources for those affected by the federal government shutdown. [Rep. Don Beyer]

Anti-NIMBY Legislation Proposed in Va. — “[Del. Jeff] Bourne and Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, are pursuing legislation in the General Assembly this year that would explicitly prohibit local governments from denying permits for housing developments because of the expected race or income levels of the residents.” [Virginia Mercury]

Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Memorial Bridge Potholes — Large potholes made for dangerous driving on the under-construction Memorial Bridge over the weekend, but crews started repairing the bridge’s pockmarked surface Tuesday. [Twitter, Twitter]

Poke Restaurant Coming to Ballston — Local restaurant Poke It Up is expanding with a second location. The restaurant, which first opened in the Pentagon City mall food court, is now planning to open this summer at 4401 N. Fairfax Drive in Ballston, next to a new soup shop, Zoup. [Eater]

Shutdown Costing Local Economy Big Bucks — “About $119.2 million per day is removed from the gross regional product each day the shutdown drags on, according to local economist Stephen Fuller, thanks to lost pay of federal workers, contractors and suppliers and the multiplied economic effects of their lost spending. That daily hit… drops to $46.4 million per day once federal workers are ultimately repaid their lost wages.” [Washington Business Journal]

Overturned Vehicle in Crystal City — A driver managed to flip his or her vehicle in a crash last night on 18th Street S., near the Crystal City Metro station. [Twitter]

Board Set to Endorse VRE Funding — “Arlington County Board members on Jan. 26 are expected to endorse a request by Virginia Railway Express (VRE) for state funding to support construction of a new Crystal City station. The transit agency will seek grant funding from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, which if approved could cover up to 70 percent of the cost of construction. VRE will fund the rest.” [InsideNova]

Changes to State Inspection Stickers — “The stickers are smaller, in response to complaints that the new sticker placement on the bottom left of the windshield, which started in 2018, resulted in reduced visibility for drivers.” [Tysons Reporter]

Nearby: Alexandria Warns About Opioids — “The City of Alexandria has responded to four suspected opioid overdoses in the last 72 hours, including two fatalities. While recreational use of opioids is always dangerous and illegal, City officials are urging residents to be aware of the medical safety of the drugs, including heroin, that could be extremely concentrated or mixed with something unusual that is resulting in life-threatening situations.” [City of Alexandria]

Flickr pool photo by Eschweik

Crystal City Restaurants Offer Free Lunches for Federal Workers This Week

By Alex Koma

Federal workers can swing by Crystal City this week to score a free lunch as the government shutdown drags on, thanks to a new partnership among businesses based in the neighborhood.

The new “Lunch on Us” program will offer free food for feds at one restaurant each day, according to a press release from the Crystal City Business Improvement District.

Anyone with a valid government ID can grab one free meal and non-alcoholic beverage from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. each day at the following restaurants:

  • Today (Tuesday): Timber Pizza at The Stand (1601 Crystal Drive)
  • Tomorrow (Wednesday): Federico Ristorante Italiano (519 23rd Street S.)
  • Thursday: Kora (2250 Crystal Drive)
  • Friday: Crystal City Sports Pub (529 23rd Street S.)

“Federal workers are the backbone of our government and important members of our community,” BID President and Executive Director Tracy Gabriel wrote in a statement. “We hope that ‘Lunch On Us’ communicates our shared appreciation while helping to ease the financial burden during the shutdown for workers and our small businesses.”

The BID also said that it will likely add locations as the shutdown continues, with updates available on its website.

JBG Smith, the Consumer Technology Association, Gates Hudson, the We Company and Eastern Foundry are also helping the BID offer the free lunch program.

This effort is the latest in a series of initiatives around the D.C. region designed to help federal workers who are hurting while missing out on paychecks, and county officials have also stepped in to lend a hand while the shutdown continues.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Apartment Fire in Nauck — Firefighters extinguished a fire in an apartment Monday evening. The fire broke out around 5:15 p.m. on the 2100 block of S. Quincy Street, in the Nauck neighborhood. No injuries were reported. [Twitter]

Board Members Reluctant to Give Themselves a Raise — “Rather than seeking higher pay, current Arlington board members might take the opposite route – start scaling back their workload. ‘There is definitely a renewed emphasis on, ‘what is our role?” [County Board Chair Christian] Dorsey said at the Jan. 17 forum, responding to a questioner who suggested board members of recent years are more mired in the nuts-and-bolts of governance than their predecessors.” [InsideNova]

Local Restaurant Delivers Free Pizza to Air Traffic Control — Over the weekend Joe’s Place Pizza and Pasta delivered free pizza to the air traffic control tower at Reagan National Airport, where controllers have been working without during the government shutdown. [Instagram]

Restaurant Week Extended — Winter Restaurant Week has been extended until Sunday, Jan. 27 due to the government shutdown and last week’s snow. [Twitter]

Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf

In Arlington Visit, Warner Cautions That Shutdown’s Impacts Will Soon Get ‘Exponentially Worse’

By Alex Koma
1/4

For all of the problems caused by the government shutdown across the D.C. region so far, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) fears things could get “exponentially worse” as soon as next week if federal employees are still going without paychecks.

Warner, like the rest of his Democratic colleagues in Congress, already sees the standoff over border wall funding engineered by President Trump as “outrageous” and a “disgrace.” Thousands of federal workers in the D.C. area alone missed their first paychecks of the shutdown last week, putting a severe strain on their finances and the whole region’s economy.

But Warner foresees government employees reaching a crisis point should they miss another paycheck in the coming days, which looks like a sure bet as Trump refuses to give an inch in discussions with congressional Democrats.

“When people go without a second paycheck, which is coming next Thursday, and they hit the beginning of the month of February, there are mortgages due, their rent is due, other bills are due,” Warner told reporters during a visit to the Arlington Food Assistance Center’s food distribution center in Nauck today (Friday). “That’s when things get really bad… And what’s happening in our region, it’s already a crisis. But this is going to be a crisis that spreads all across the country. ”

Warner pointed out that Congress and Trump could at least agree to provide back pay for furloughed workers, but he warned that restitution alone “doesn’t make you whole.” He’s already heard stories from people taking out loans to make it through the shutdown, or missing payments and seeing their credit scores take a hit.

And he’s especially concerned about federal contractors, which include not only high-priced tech workers but people working in cafeterias or custodial services, who may not make much money.

Charlie Meng, the executive director of AFAC, told ARLnow that “many of the contractors who are most affected are our clients already.” He says the food bank has seen a “slight uptick” in interest since the shutdown started, and it began urging federal employees to swing by for free groceries, but he said that people who are already struggling to get by are the ones hardest hit by missing out on paychecks.

“We serve the working poor, and that includes many of the people who work for the government indirectly but are just hanging on,” Meng said. “Something like this happens, and it really hurts them.”

Warner notes that the shutdown will likely spell big trouble for Metro the longer it drags on. WMATA General Manager Paul Wiedefeld told the D.C.’s regions senators yesterday (Thursday) that keeping federal workers at home is prompting a steep drop in ridership, costing the rail service about $400,000 per day.

It doesn’t help matters either that federal officials haven’t been able to reimburse Metro for about $33 million in expenses it has incurred over the course of the shutdown, an amount Wiedefeld estimates could balloon to $50 million by the end of the month. He warned that Metro would need to start relying on its line of credit to afford major capital improvements soon enough, or simply delay badly needed projects.

“In a way, it’s like Metro can’t catch a break,” Warner said. “Finally, the region stepped up, Virginia, Maryland, the District to provide additional, dedicated funding for Metro. Now we’ve got this crisis, not due to Metro’s performance but due to the government shutdown. It’s going to put Metro even further behind.”

Warner says Democrats are “absolutely” willing to negotiate on increased border security measures with the White House to end this standoff — but only if Trump agrees to open the government back up first.

“If you reward this bad behavior, he will try this again, he will try this again with spending bills going forward,” Warner said. “You don’t reward a bully.”

Warner points out that a bipartisan group of senators wrote a letter to Trump, urging him to fund the government for three weeks to let negotiations to start back up. But that effort fizzled, and he says it was “disappointing” to discover that the White House was actively pressuring Republicans not to sign on to that push.

“It’s tough if you’re a Republican senator to sign onto a letter, even a reasonable letter, when you’ve got folks like Jared Kushner and others lobbying against it,” Warner said.

Broadly, he believes Trump is hanging over the whole debate. Even though the Senate already voted unanimously to fund the government before Trump started demanding money for a border wall, Warner feels his Republican colleagues haven’t been willing to take action for straightforward political reasons: “You’ve got a lot of Republicans who are afraid of upsetting the president.”

So even as Republicans privately tell Warner that they’d like to end the shutdown, he doesn’t see much hope for any resolution soon. And that, he says, sits squarely on Trump’s shoulders.

“The president has said he was proud to own this shutdown,” Warner said. “This will be part of his legacy, which is already the worst legacy in modern American history.”

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Roads ‘Looking Good’ After Light Snow — Per Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services: snow removal crews are “reviewing school routes, especially bridges and County sidewalks, with @APSVirginia on a 2-hour delayed opening. Roadways looking good, treated as needed, but go slow and remove snow from vehicles before pulling out.” [Twitter]

Gov’t Closures Today and Monday — “Arlington County Government offices, courts, libraries & facilities will be closed on Jan. 21, 2019 for Martin Luther King, Jr.,’s birthday. NOTE: Commonwealth of Virginia offices (including Courts & DMVs)  will be closed Friday Jan. 18, 2019 for Lee-Jackson Day.” [Arlington County]

Amazon Incentives Clear First Richmond Hurdle — “A powerful General Assembly committee has passed and forwarded to the full state Senate legislation that would grant Amazon up to $750 million in financial incentives for locating a secondary headquarters in Arlington and Alexandria.” [InsideNova]

Who Said This? — A “big D.C. developer” reportedly called Crystal City “Ballston with lipstick,” which is more flattering than what an executive for Crystal City’s biggest property owner said about the community earlier this week. For its part, Crystal City is continuing to bask in the afterglow of its big Amazon win and this week’s announcement that PBS will be keeping its headquarters in the neighborhood. [Twitter]

Famers Market Offers Shutdown Discounts — The Westover Farmers Market, held on Sundays at the corner of Washington Blvd and N. McKinley Road, is offering discounts of 10-25 percent for furloughed federal employees and contractors until the government shutdown ends.

Arlington Family’s Furlough Story — An Arlington couple who both work for the federal government and are missing paychecks during the shutdown is more fortunate than many, given that they have savings with which to keep paying the bills. But it has meant cutting back on discretionary spending and things like child care and retirement contributions. [MarketWatch]

Arlington Man Arrested for ‘Ruckus’ in Ohio — “A man from Arlington, Virginia is facing charges in Youngstown after police say he created a ruckus at the downtown DoubleTree and threatened police… officers say he kept threatening them saying, ‘You guys are going to be sorry, and you’re going to regret this. I will find you when I get out.'” [WKBN]

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