With more than 125,000 members of Maryland’s federal workforce largely shut off from their paychecks and facing the threat of mass layoffs, local leaders are pushing back, offering resources to impacted families, and demanding an end to the government shutdown after almost two weeks of stalled negotiations.
Republican President Donald Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought continually threaten mass layoffs — some of which have already been enacted — and with a circulated White House memo warning that backpay is not guaranteed.
“The Trump administration is not only maliciously attacking our patriotic federal employees, but also the vital public services they provide to the American people,” Maryland Democratic congressional leaders wrote in an Oct. 10 joint statement.
“Republicans have been weaponizing the Office of Management and Budget to illegally fire federal workers since day one, and now they’re using this shutdown of their own making to inflict even more trauma on the nonpartisan civil servants who have nothing to do with it,” the Maryland congressional Democrats continued. “Working Americans will ultimately bear the brunt of these actions.”
As the government shutdown forges on, U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) introduced a bill to provide additional assistance to essential federal workers who are obligated to work without pay. In addition, Alsobrooks and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) have requested that utility companies pause penalties and shutoffs amid the federal shutdown.
Alsobrooks said Republicans should be held to account for the shutdown, which is now in its third week.
“Republicans have the keys to the kingdom. They control the White House, and they have majorities in the Senate and House. Today was the first day of their shutdown, and already, we’re hearing from Marylanders who are hurting,” said Maryland’s first Black senator Oct. 1. “The same Marylanders who have been hurting for nine months.”
She also acknowledged that the Trump administration has worsened Maryland’s economy and is threatening a massive increase in medical costs if health care subsidies are not renewed. Previous mass layoffs, tariffs, and other negative economic indicators have pushed Maryland into an economic recession, according to Moody’s.
“This administration’s cruelty, combined with their incompetence, has wrecked our economy, gutted our federal workforce, and soon, will drive up our health insurance costs,” Alsobrooks continued. “It’s shameful. We will keep fighting back to reopen the government and defend the middle class.”
At the beginning of the shutdown, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) immediately offered resources to furloughed workers and, like Alsobrooks, denounced the shutdown as a failure of Republican leadership.
“Washington failed to govern, Donald Trump failed to make a deal, and now families across our state are left to deal with the fallout. This shutdown will have staggering impacts for our state — health coverage left in limbo, wages lost, programs shuttered, projects scrapped,” said Moore in an email shortly after the shutdown began. “But here in Maryland, we will not stop protecting each other.”
He authorized state agencies to employ: contingency plans for federal programs; protected and expanded emergency assistance programs for federal employees; and offered a $700 loan to essential employees.
“We’re going to keep our state government open. We’re going to protect critical programs like Medicaid and food assistance,” Moore continued. “And we’re working to ensure that no one is foreclosed on or evicted simply because Washington won’t do its job and would rather force people to go without a paycheck.”
Prince George’s Leaders Offer Resources and Aid to Laid-Off Workers
As politicians such as Moore, Alsobrooks and Van Holen work to support Marylanders statewide, Prince George’s County leaders are also working to bolster their constituents.
The shuttering of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) and the impending closures of both Six Flags and Northwest Stadium are already worsening the county’s economic outlook, and the threat of prolonged furloughs and mass layoffs of the estimated 70,000 federal employees poses great economic and social risk for individual families and the county as a whole.
“I would be in a bankruptcy line along with some of these other individuals here,” said an anonymous federal worker during a recent Prince George’s County Council meeting. “If that was the case, a lot of us would have to file bankruptcy — seriously, because we wouldn’t be able to pay our mortgages when we do go back, if we do go back.”
Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy (D) announced that major utilities had agreed not to cut off energy and water to federal workers who live in the county during the shutdown.
“I have every confidence in the leadership in Washington that represents Prince George’s County and the state of Maryland that they are on the right side,” Braveboy told NBC Washington.
The Prince George’s County Council voted to give laid-off federal employees priority hiring in county government jobs, provide free access to career training at Prince George’s Community College, and establish a food assistance database.
The legislation originally included a $1,000 check to each laid-off worker, but that component was removed as the county could not afford it, said District 6 Councilmember Wala Blegay (D), who sponsored the bill.
“The county cannot do all that we wish we could do,” said Council Chair Edward Burroughs III (D- District 8) while voting in favor of the bill. “but this is a step in the right direction for the public servants who’ve given their lives to serving this country and now they’re being treated as less than.”
For more information, go to the Prince George’s County Council resources page.