ICYMI: How A Government Shutdown Could Hit Wisconsin, Home To 18,000 Federal Workers
MADISON, Wis. — Today, a new report detailed how a government shutdown could jeopardize paychecks for federal workers, of which 18,000 call Wisconsin home. As Democrats are negotiating to prevent 24 million Americans from having their health care costs increase, Republicans, who found the money for massive tax breaks to billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, are refusing to support the funding.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How A Government Shutdown Could Hit Wisconsin, Home To 18,000 Federal Workers
By: Lawrence Andrea | 9/30/25
See key details below:
- Thousands of federal workers in Wisconsin are facing the prospect of furloughs under a potential government shutdown — with federal funding set to expire Tuesday night and leaders on Capitol Hill at a crossroads on a temporary patch.
- If the government shuts down, it would be the first since 2018 and would mean hundreds of thousands of federal workers deemed nonessential across the country could miss paychecks.
- In Wisconsin, there are about 18,000 civilian federal workers, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
- Some health care and education grant funding to the state is likely to stop under a shutdown, and national parks and other sites funded through the National Park Service, like Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail, could be impacted.
- House Republicans last week passed a seven-week stopgap funding bill that included millions of additional dollars in security for members following the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
- Republicans in the Senate, however, need Democratic support to bypass the 60-vote Senate filibuster but have rejected Democratic demands to include provisions extending Affordable Care Act insurance plan subsidies that will expire at the end of the year. Democrats also sought to restore some Medicaid funding that was cut as part of President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” passed this summer.
- Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Tuesday said failing to extend the Obamacare subsidies would balloon healthcare costs for thousands of Wisconsinites and accused Republicans of not negotiating in good faith to keep the government open.
- “The path to keep the government open and stop healthcare costs from rising is on the table,” Baldwin said on a call with reporters. “This whole idea of a shutdown is totally avoidable. If Republicans refuse to see what’s right in front of them, then the shutdown is on them, and Wisconsinites will know exactly who stood in the way.”
- The exact impacts of a government shutdown depend on how long it lasts. The last shutdown came in 2018 — during Trump’s first term — and lasted a record 35 days.
- Here’s how a government shutdown could impact Wisconsin:
- What happens to Medicare and Social Security benefits?
- Entitlement program benefits like Social Security and Medicare are considered mandatory spending and will continue uninterrupted, though some of the agency’s employees may be furloughed.
- Some services, verification of benefits, or corrections and updates to earnings records, could be suspended under a shutdown.
- The government has enough funding for Medicaid through the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
- What about FoodShare, parks and other services?
- The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin, is not expected to be immediately impacted but could be interrupted, depending on how long a shutdown lasts.
- National Parks and sites funded through the National Park Service could see immediate closures under a shutdown, though parks and activities led by counties and states would continue.
- Still, other departments across the federal government could see disruptions under a shutdown due to worker furloughs.
- The Wisconsin Department of Administration said it did not know how many federal workers in Wisconsin could be impacted by the impending shutdown, though federal data shows there were just over 17,900 federal workers in the state in 2024.
- Trump this week said he may lay off “a lot” of federal workers during a shutdown.
- And his Office of Management and Budget recently told agencies that they should aim to “retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions” once the potential shutdown ends.
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