Tens of thousands of federal employees in Florida are either working without pay or have been furloughed as the federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1 continues, sparking affordability concerns from advocates.
According to the Florida AFL-CIO, the state’s largest federation of labor unions, there are nearly 100,000 federal employees in Florida who aren’t getting a paycheck during the shutdown, including Floridians employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, TSA officers at Florida airports, and thousands of civilian employees in the U.S. military, among other agencies. An additional 750,000 federal employees across the country, meanwhile, have been furloughed — or essentially locked out of their job.
“Once again, we are told our work is ‘essential,’ but our livelihoods are treated as expendable,” said Candise Isla, a TSA officer and member of the American Federal of Government Employees union who’s worked at Orlando International Airport for more than a decade. Isla, a member of AFGE Local 556, said she’s worked at MCO through four government shutdowns since 2013, and admits, “each one takes a heavier toll on officers like me and our families.”
“During a shutdown, TSA officers are required to keep reporting for duty. We keep checkpoints running, screen bags, and ensure flights are safe, all while paychecks are withheld,” she explained. Although federal government workers are entitled by law to backpay once a funding agreement is reached, in the meantime, those who are furloughed or are instructed to continue work as usual are left unpaid.
“The truth is, missing even a single paycheck is devastating. Many TSA officers live paycheck to paycheck,” Isla pointed out. “Rent, childcare, and grocery bills don’t pause just because Congress can’t agree. After a while, some officers will struggle to afford gas to get to the airport, while others will start relying on food banks or second jobs just to get by.”
Rachel Villand, who serves as co-chair of the Veterans and Military Family Council of the Democratic National Committee, said she’s concerned that with the U.S. House in recess until next Monday, “it is very likely that military members will not receive their mid-month pay, which is critical.”
“Friends of mine, as well as contacts I have, [say] there’s a mad scramble to figure out what to do, how they’re going to get money, and so they’re having to rely on aid organizations — which I think is a tragedy for our all volunteer forces in the greatest and most capable military in the world,” Villand shared in a virtual press conference Monday, organized by the Florida Democratic Party. “This is just a shame.”
The federal government shutdown has largely resulted from disagreement between Republicans and Democrats in U.S. Congress over funding for healthcare programs.
This includes federal subsidies that help offset the cost of insurance premiums for a significant number of Americans — including an estimated 2 million or so Floridians — who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Those enhanced health insurance tax credits, first made available through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 under the Biden administration, are set to expire by the end of 2025 unless Congress extends them. If the subsidies do expire, health policy advocates warn that insurance premiums for those who previously qualified for them could see their monthly premiums more than double — potentially costing low- and moderate-income earners hundreds or even thousands of dollars more per year.
“The fact that the Republicans are playing games with the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans shows what their priorities are,” said Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried, who joined the press call Monday.
“The fact that the Republicans are playing games with the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans shows what their priorities are.”
Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried
Although some Republicans and Democrats in Congress have pushed for a short-term deal to end the shutdown, and return to renegotiate at a later date, Fried is skeptical of the idea. “We can’t trust that come December, they’re going to come back to the table,” she said. “We’ve got to take an opportunity to renegotiate the situation.”
Most Democrats in the U.S. Senate have rejected efforts to reach a short-term deal, according to CNN, as they work to force Republicans — who currently have majority control over both the House and Senate — to agree to extend the ACA health insurance subsidies. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, meanwhile sent House members home this week, arguing Monday, “There’s nothing for us to negotiate” and “the ball is in the court of the Senate Democrats.”
Recent national polling found that 78 percent of the public say they want Congress to extend the ACA tax credits ahead of their expiration, including 59 percent of Republicans and 57 of self-identified “Make America Great Again” supporters polled. A greater share of adults polled said President Donald Trump or Republicans (39 percent and 37 percent, respectively) would deserve the blame for the failure of Congress to extend the subsidies, compared to 22 percent of adults who said Democrats deserve the blame.
U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost, representing Orlando, told Politico his office estimates roughly 200,000 people in his district alone will pay more for health insurance coverage unless Congress intervenes to extend the subsidies.
Meanwhile, federal workers — 80 percent of whom live and work outside of Washington, D.C. — are facing a broader threat of mass firings if the shutdown continues. While furloughing employees during a shutdown is typical, permanent firings are not.
“We now have the White House saying they’re going to do mass firings — they’re not going to honor the law, they’re not going to honor [union] contracts,” Florida AFL-CIO political director Rich Templin told Orlando Weekly. “So this is a lot more uncertain for folks than it’s ever been,” he added, when asked to compare this shutdown to previous ones. “We’ve never had a White House just say, I’m going to break the law.”
Labor unions representing government employees, including the AFGE and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, have filed a lawsuit over the Trump administration’s threats to fire federal workers, and filed a temporary restraining order over the weekend.
“We’re facing a health care crisis with millions of Americans about to see their health insurance payments skyrocket, and instead of working across the aisle to solve it, the administration is threatening to use its orchestrated shutdown as an excuse to fire federal workers who perform critical services that Americans rely on,” said AFSCME president Lee Saunders in a statement.
“The threatened mass firings are unlawful. Public service work is vital to our communities, and we will do everything in our power to defend it.”
According to Axios, the Social Security administration has already lost 20 percent of its staff in 2025 since the Trump administration took over. Even before that, in 2023, Social Security was already at its lowest staffing level in 25 years, according to the AFGE, despite steady increases in the number of people relying on Social Security benefits.
Under Trump — who has explicitly admitted aims to target “Democrat agencies” — at least 150,000 federal workers have already left the federal government voluntarily, amid low morale and uncertain job security, choosing to accept an earlier buyout offer from the Trump administration. That’s in addition to job cuts advanced by the Trump administration’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” an initiative initially led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
The New York Times estimates that one in eight federal workers — equal to approximately 300,000 employees — will have left the government by the end of December.
This post first appeared at our sibling publication, Orlando Weekly.
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This article appears in Oct. 2 – 8, 2025.