Democrats Chose Not to Pay Those Working Everyday – Top 3 Takeaways, October 28th, 2025
Takeaway #1: Put up or shut up & go away
Two ideas that might at first seem contradictory can both be true. It is possible to root for a much smaller federal government, with fewer people working within it, while simultaneously feeling sympathetic towards impacted federal employees. As we’re now into day 28, or four full weeks, of the partial federal government shutdown it remains true that the average American living the typical life hasn’t seen or felt absolutely any impact from what’s happened here. For a country that’s now over $38 trillion in debt, and that’s been running nearly $2 trillion in annual budget deficits, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve had ample evidence over the past four weeks that we could do without substantial portions of non-essential federal government agencies permanently. The woe-is the federal government employee trope rings hollow with me because it’s not the job of non-federal employees to provide unnecessary federal jobs to people employed in them permanently. And as stated, aside from a general belief that limited government is better than a large and bloated government, we can’t afford to continue to do the things the same way we’ve been doing them anyway. As I stated at the onset of the partial government shutdown, with 34% of the federal government going offline, making this not only the second longest government shutdown to date, but also the largest in terms of its depth and breadth to date, this should be the ultimate exercise in how we can effectively downsize the federal government. And it’s been just that. At the same time, even for furloughed employees, there’s a right and a wrong way to do things.
Takeaway #2: It’s never ok to deny people their pay
And it’s absolutely unconscionable to deny people who’ve been going to work every day the pay that they’re due for having done so. Yet that’s exactly what we’ve seen Democrats do. First there was the bill to pay the military as scheduled earlier this month. But all Democrats save three, Jon Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Georgia’s two Democrats, Jon Ossoff and Rafael Warnock, in the senate refused. Seriously how could anyone in congress, anyone, vote to refuse pay for the people protecting this country every day? But that’s what almost every Democrat did showing how little they actually care about A) Doing the right thing independent of political wranglings and B) How little they actual care about the human impact of what they do. The average military salary is currently $51,584, with entry level salaries starting at just $24,000. By way of comparison, the average military member earns about $15,000 less per year than the average person working in the private sector and approximately $46,000 less than the average federal government employee. In the end President Trump ordered the use of any available funds to get it done, which happened on October 14th. On principle, it’s indefensible to vote to withhold the money that’s due. On a human level these are largely people who are far from wealthy and count on every paycheck to get by. Yet that’s what Democrats did. And then last week Democrats were presented with the Shutdown Fairness Act that would have paid all essential federal government workers, that have been working as usual each day during this partial shutdown, only for that measure to be voted down too with the same political split among Democrats as before. But today is an especially big day as over 1.2 million essential federal government employees, who’ve been working, will begin a cycle of essential federal employees who will not receive paychecks as scheduled due to the Democrat’s decision to not only refuse to reopen the federal government, without changing existing laws and policies to fit their desired socialist dreams of free puppies and free candy and free health care and free Biden Bucks and free Obama phones, that are anything but free- for illegal immigrants and basically for anyone but for shlubs like you and me who actually pay taxes federally. There’s a difference between political disputes and operating with intellectual honesty and integrity. It needs to be made clear and it needs to be widely known that there’s one reason, and one reason alone that well over 1.2 million who have been working will not be getting paid as promised, many of them today as is the case of air traffic controllers, because Democrats have voted against them receiving that pay. And if Democrats will withhold compensation for people who’re going to work for the federal government, what do you really think they think about or would be willing to have happen to you?
Takeaway #3: Today is a character defining day
And it’s clear the lack of character by that Left that’s on display. People are just pawns to play politically to ultimately enact their Rules for Radicals driven ideology. What’s happened here has transcended politics into something that’s not defensible because paying people for their work isn’t ideological. This is why, for example, the largest union of federal employees – which endorsed Kamala Harris last year – called for the end of the shutdown with a “clean resolution”, endorsing the Republican's approach to ending the partial shutdown. But this whole exercise has been instructive. The U.S. Dollar has appreciated by 1.2% this month since the onset of the partial government shutdown. Gold has retreated 8% from its recent record highs, and stocks closed at record highs yet again yesterday with the S&P 500 that’s over 2% higher since the onset of the shutdown. So, what exactly is it that the financial markets are saying about this? Seemingly that less federal government is a good thing. So, we can at least thank Democrats for demonstrating that for everyone to be able to see. And a week from today, we’ll see what voters think about the party in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City.