Press Releases

As thousands of federal workers work without pay due to the Republican government shutdown, U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24) requested the Chief Administrative Officer of the House to withhold his pay until the federal government is fully reopened.

“I stand in solidarity with the servicemembers, air traffic controllers, and other federal workers on the Central Coast and beyond who are now at risk of missing paychecks because Donald Trump and congressional Republicans shut down the government. If our federal workers are not getting paid, neither am I,” said Rep. Carbajal. “Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House. This is their government shutdown, and I continue to call on them to work with Democrats to reopen the government, pay our federal workers, and stop health insurance costs from skyrocketing.”

Some federal workers received their last paycheck on Friday, October 10th. 

Last week, Carbajal signed onto a letter urging House Speaker Mike Johnson to protect servicemembers’ pay during the Republican shutdown. 

During past government shutdowns and furloughs both in Santa Barbara County government and in Congress, Carbajal has similarly forgone pay in solidarity with impacted workers.

Democrats in both the House and Senate have argued that any deal to reopen the federal government needs to protect the expanded tax credit subsidies for health insurance purchased through Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges. Those tax credits and the eligibility for them were expanded by Democrats in 2021 under then-President Biden and are scheduled to expire at the end of December. If the tax credits are not protected in a stopgap bill, millions of Americans could lose their health insurance.

If Republicans allow these vital tax credits to expire, an estimated 35,000 Central Coast residents will face higher health care costs, and nearly 10,000 could lose coverage entirely.