Connecticut is bracing for a potential federal government shutdown starting as soon as Wednesday, but top officials do not know how severe the shutdown might be.
Negotiators were racing toward the deadline in Washington, D.C. as President Donald Trump was meeting with top lawmakers Monday at the White House. Republicans and Democrats have been blaming each other for the stalemate as state officials across the country are trying to determine the potential impact. House Republicans, who control the majority in the chamber, are not expected back in Washington until next week as various votes have been canceled.
One of the biggest unanswered questions is how many federal workers might be furloughed or permanently laid off if the shutdown is enacted.
Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday that his administration is troubled about the potential negative impact.
“Yeah, really concerned,” Lamont told reporters. “We’ve got all of our commissioners doing a deep dive right now: What of their programs will be impacted? How many of their employees are subsidized by the federal government? Those people won’t be getting paid for a while. If they are essential workers, they’re still coming in —just not getting paid. That could include some members of the military, as well. It’s really irresponsible.”
Before catching a plane to Washington, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said in Hartford that he still holds out hope that a deal could be reached by midnight Tuesday as federal negotiators often wait until the last minute to reach a compromise in the high-stakes clash.
“We are fast approaching a fiscal precipice, a cliff that could take the government and our economy into really cataclysmic waters,” Blumenthal told reporters outside the state Capitol. “We can and should avoid a shutdown. It’s easily avoidable if Republicans will just agree to save health care for millions of Americans who otherwise will be unable to afford it.”
An estimated 139,000 people in Connecticut could see their health care premiums spike by as much as 75% if the federal subsidies are not extended beyond their expiration date on Dec. 31. Consumers have been receiving the subsidies under the Affordable Care Act since 2021. Depending on their income, some families could pay an additional $10,000 to $20,000 per year for their premiums if they have no subsidies, he said. A family of four that earns $64,000 per year in the Greater Hartford area would see premiums rise by $2,571 per year, according to the House Budget Committee.
Republicans say there is no rush in late September because they have three months before the expiration on New Year’s Eve. But Democrats counter that the “open enrollment” period for consumers to make their decisions starts November 1, and they need to plan in advance so that they will calculate their health care premium costs for 2026. The Republican stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, would extend until Nov. 21.
“People need to know whether they can afford health insurance before they can enroll,” Blumenthal said.
Currently, he said, 90% of the patients who have their insurance under the Affordable Care Act benefit from the subsidies.
Federal employees
If workers are temporarily laid off through furloughs, they will eventually get retroactive pay, Blumenthal said. Any permanent layoffs, he said, would be a bad idea. The Trump administration has threatened to fire federal employees, but no exact totals have been released.
“These firings, if they occur, will be reversed by the courts,” Blumenthal said. “It’s totally cruel and stupid to engage in mass firings.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal is concerned about a potential shutdown of the federal government. Here, he is shown during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism on Capitol Hill in April in Washington. (Associated Press photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The White House has a completely different view, saying it is the Democrats’ fault that the shutdown may happen. Republicans control the White House, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. But since 60 votes are needed to break a filibuster in the Senate, Democrats have power on the spending issue because Republicans lack the 60 necessary votes.
“Radical Left Democrats are barreling the country toward a government shutdown if they don’t get their ~$1.5 trillion wish list of demands,” the White House said. “The party of open borders, violent crime, and transgender for everybody is now jeopardizing military pay, critical care for veterans, firefighter pay, disaster relief funding, and many more programs on which Americans rely — while President Donald J. Trump and Republicans are committed to keeping the government open with a clean funding extension.”
President Donald Trump has agreed often with House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana. Here, the two leaders shake hands during a reception for Republican members of Congress in the East Room of the White House on July 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
While some programs are threatened, others will proceed as normal. Social Security payments will still be sent to bank accounts by direct deposit. Mail deliveries will continue by the U.S. Postal Service. Patients on Medicare and Medicaid will still have their medical bills paid.
“Air traffic will continue, but controllers would not be hired or trained,” Blumenthal said when asked by The Courant. “So the existing controllers would be at work, but at possibly reduced levels. There would be longer delays at the airport. People should be prepared for longer delays.”
He added, “Veterans program services would be curtailed. Social Security would be paid, but new cards would not be issued and verification of payments would not be possible. The military would be continuing to serve, but would not be paid until the end of the shutdown. But the greater threat is the uncertainty of what would be deemed essential by this president.”
Nationwide impact
Connecticut would not be as severely impacted as Washington, D.C., but various cuts would have a direct impact on workers here, officials said.
Connecticut had 10,247 federal workers as of December 2023, according to government statistics. That is sharply below 143,000 in Washington, D.C., 164,000 in nearby Virginia that includes the Pentagon, and nearly 150,000 workers in nearby Maryland in various governmental agencies. By comparison, California has 180,000 federal workers, and Florida has 114,000.
“Republicans would rather shut down the government than protect the American people from skyrocketing premiums,” U.S. Rep. John B. Larson said. “With government set to shut down in less than 48 hours, Democrats are in Washington and ready to act to support working families and our troops. We put forward a plan to keep government open and address health care costs, but Donald Trump told Republicans to ‘not even bother’ negotiating. Speaker Johnson sent his members home and canceled votes for the week, leaving the nation barreling toward a devastating government shutdown. If Republicans think they can jam Democrats with a bill that rubber stamps Trump’s ‘DOGE’ cuts and does nothing to address their health care crisis, they better think again.”
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy says that Democrats are not obligated to support the federal budget as proposed by Trump and Republicans.
“I think Democrats are united in a couple of simple ideas,” Murphy said recently on Stephen Colbert’s show on CBS. “We have to stand up for people whose lives would be ruined by these massive health care premiums. “We have no moral obligation to pay the bills for democracy’s destruction, and so if this budget doesn’t roll back at least some of the grave damage that’s being done to the rule of law, then Democrats have no obligation to support it.”
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com
