PHOENIX — Arizona federal workers, labor leaders and elected Democratic officials demanded an immediate end to the government shutdown on Tuesday, saying the three-week stalemate is inflicting deep hardship across the state. 

Aliyah Levin, a Department of Labor employee, said she will soon need to borrow to pay her bills. 

“This past month, the world (has been) upside down,” she said at a news conference at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. “The American government is not functioning, and it’s causing chaos rippling out in all areas of life, in every industry.”

Levin is president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2391, which represents about 1,000 unionized federal workers in western states.

Other unions turned out to show solidarity and announce donation drives to help federal workers make ends meet until Congress and the White House end the stalemate.

According to the Arizona AFL-CIO, roughly 34,500 federal workers in Arizona have been furloughed or are working without pay.

The tally nationwide is nearly 750,000, according to the Congressional Budget Office. 

U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Phoenix, framed the shutdown as a moral failure of congressional leadership – not just a political impasse. 

“To Arizonans, please stand with these workers who land your planes, keep you safe, protect your homes,” he said. “Those prolonging the shutdown to exert more pain, to punish these federal workers out of spite, shame on you.”

Republicans have insisted on a stopgap spending deal that would fund the government through November 21, blaming Democrats for digging in even as the GOP refrained from using the leverage of a budget crisis to make any policy demands. 

The House GOP used its majority to approve a so-called “clean” spending plan a month ago.

But Democrats want a deal that extends massive health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year, potentially knocking millions off insurance.

Senate Republicans have tried 11 times to approve the House bill but can’t get the 60 votes needed without help from Democrats.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke with President Donald Trump on Tuesday about the shutdown, telling reporters afterward that Republicans won’t agree to Democrats’ demands on health care subsidies. 

Johnson, R-La., posted on X that the president “confirmed he is ready and willing for the three of us to meet” with the Democratic leaders, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer, “as soon as Schumer reopens the government.”

At Sky Harbor, U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Phoenix, said federal workers who have dedicated their lives to serving their country are being used as “political pawns.”

“Many have been furloughed and are working without pay, and still they are making sure that their fellow colleagues and their families don’t go hungry,” she said. “It should not have to go this way.” 

The Arizona AFL-CIO is accepting donations to support federal workers. 

“Every penny helps, so please, as we stand together, do not let these political games rob families of their security and their dignity,” said Fred Yamashita, secretary-treasurer and executive director of Arizona AFL-CIO. 

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99,which represents private sector workers in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, kicked off the drive with a $20,000 donation. 

Ansari and Stanton noted that the House hasn’t been in session since Sept. 19 – a prolonged “vacation” that makes it hard to get a deal done. 

Johnson says there’s nothing to negotiate and he won’t call the House back into session until Senate Democrats help pass the House spending plan.

“You show up without pay, because duty still means something. That is patriotism in its purest form,” Stanton said.

This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.