Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Virginia) says the closure amplifies the billions in contract cancellations and workforce cuts. As the government shutdown finishes week five and likely becomes the longest in history, Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Virginia) said it is also important to remember what federal workers and contractors have already gone through.
“It is very important to put the shutdown in the context of this year,” he said Thursday during press briefing that was a sidebar at the Professional Services Council’s annual defense conference.
The Trump administration has cancelled $20 billion in contracts. Around $2.3 billion in that total affected Walkinshaw’s 11th district of Virginia, which covers most of Fairfax County and all of Fairfax City.
“We’re the number one congressional district for contract cancellations and terminations over the course of this year,” he said.
Trump administration initiatives such as the Department of Government Efficiency, widespread jobs cuts at federal agencies, and forced retirements have put a squeeze on the market and created an atmosphere of uncertainty.
“The shutdown comes on the heels of all of that and obviously adds to it and compounds it,” Walkinshaw said.
Federal workers are missing paychecks and contractors are trying to do what they can to preserve jobs. Some are asking employees to use vacation time now so they do not miss a paycheck, he said.
“Eventually you run out of deck chairs to rearrange, and people start missing paychecks,” he said.
The shutdown is a temporary condition. But Walkinshaw said underlying Trump policies such as DOGE, contract cancellations and “the unilateral downsizing of the federal government presumably will continue in some way shape or form for the rest of President Trump’s term.”
Some negotiations are underway in the Senate, but little is happening in the House because Speaker Mike Johnson sent representatives home before the government shutdown started on Oct. 1. Johnson can reopen the House with 48-hour notice.
For Walkinshaw and his fellow Democrats, there are areas of compromise such as extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits. Democrats want them made permanent, but Republicans do not. One compromise would be to extend them for a year or two, he said.
There also could be room for some reforms the Republicans want, so long as they don’t undermine the program.
“But what doesn’t work is saying, ‘We’ll get to it later,’ because they’ve had all year,” Walkinshaw said. “The expiration of the tax credits was not a surprise. Everybody knew it was coming and [the GOP] blocked bills to address it. There isn’t a lot of trust that they’ll get to it somehow miraculously before the end of the year.”
Besides health care, there are other pressing issues Congress and the White House are not addressing because of the shutdown. Security and innovation in particular are not, as they are paused while the government is closed.
But Walkinshaw said there are opportunities once the House is back in session on what he called nuts-and-bolts issues that can garner bipartisan support such as IT modernization and cybersecurity.
“Given the speed of innovation and the speed at which our adversaries around the globe, state and non-state actors, are innovating, a pause is a negative,” Walkinshaw said.
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