'A Slap in the Face': Federal Employees Feel Betrayed by Democrats' Shutdown Cave

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"What is the point of the Democrats?" a federal worker at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration asked me via Signal late on Sunday night. A solid question: after 40 days, the longest shutdown in US history, eight members of the minority party in the Senate broke ranks and voted to throw all the people they had theoretically been fighting for under the bus. "What in the fuck was the point of this shutdown?"

The deal, which still needs to get through the House, would fund the government temporarily, reverse shutdown-enacted reductions in force (RIFs), and ensure federal employee back pay. It notably does not, however, include the extension of healthcare subsidies that was, it should be stressed, the entire argument on which Democrats had pinned their holdout. Instead, majority leader John Thune has agreed to hold a vote on the subsidies in December — all that pain for a shallow promise to hold a vote they will lose.

"To cave on such a weak deal spits in the face of all the stress federal employees have endured over the last seven weeks," said an NIH employee. A staffer at the EPA agreed: "We went into this shutdown knowing we would suffer but it would be worth it for the country. This deal is a slap in the face to every federal worker."

Though of course opinions across whatever is left of the two million-plus federal employees will vary, and most will surely welcome the return of a paycheck, everyone I heard from said that their colleagues were all more or less in lock-step at this news.

"Most of us are furious, disheartened, & very much feeling 'we had low expectations but not THAT low,'" said a National Park Service employee. "[With] many of us relying on internal charity networks & living out of cars, we STILL predominantly (in my experience) want Dems to keep fighting. None of us want to have literally bled through this shutdown only to have a few senate Dems abandon the vociferous screams to stand firm."

The Senators who voted with all Republicans (save Rand Paul) included Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), Dick Durbin (IL), John Fetterman (PA), Maggie Hassan (NH), Time Kaine (VA), Angus King (ME), Jacky Rosen (NV), and Jeanne Shaheen (NH). Literally none of those are up for reelection in 2026; Shaheen and Durbin are retiring, while the others can hope everyone forgets by 2028 or 2030.

Notably absent from the list is, of course, Chuck Schumer — who presumably can hide behind his no-vote while trying to downplay his failure as party leader to maintain a united front.

"Nobody is better at turning victory into defeat than Chuck Schumer," said the NIH staffer. "After Tuesday I started to have hope again for... the first time since Schumer caved the first time. So much for that, I got nearly a week of not being hideously depressed."

Another federal employee said Schumer and Durbin must resign. "What just happened in the Senate was a betrayal. We are governed by cowards all around," they said. "We civil servants organized to help our colleagues face the hardship of the shutdown, we put up with the pain and our only request was to not be betrayed like this. Trade our pain, make it count."

The absurdity is deepened by this coming only days after massive electoral success for Democrats, from New York to Virginia to California, last Tuesday. In the midst of the shutdown, it was clear that the public was on Democrats' side — Trump and his cronies were busy demolishing pieces of the White House, holding opulent Let Them Eat Cake parties, and slashing flights at airports across the country. Democrats had essentially never held a better hand, which to a few of them appears to have meant it was the perfect time to fold.

"I've spent the past 5 weeks agonizing over whether I should take another job and what I owe to the country and my colleagues versus myself and my family, but I guess that just shows what a rube I am," a NOAA staffer said on Monday morning. "Everyone I've talked to since yesterday feels the same."

Durbin, Schumer's second-in-command in the Senate, insists that everyone criticizing the vote is just a small-minded imbecile, more or less. People "need to understand how the Senate works," he said on Sunday night, claiming that the elevation of healthcare subsidies to national issue — totally, no one was worried about insurance costs before — counts as a win. Republicans, meanwhile, continue to count "winning" as a win.

"Nevermind the administration disappearing people off the streets or murdering Caribbean fishermen on a whim or shutting down agencies illegally or declaring war on trans people or openly accepting bribes, Dems picked a fight on health care and couldn't even find the spine for that," the NOAA employee said. "I would rather be an actual pawn. At least pawn sacrifices are calculated and achieve something. All this for a fucking meaningless vote."