WASHINGTON — For months, a group of former federal workers has gathered each Tuesday on the Hill, trying to get lawmakers’ attention. Sometimes dozens show up, while other weeks have fewer.

This Tuesday was no different, except for one important detail. The government is staring down a shutdown due to start at midnight — a threat that’s only applying more pressure to an already beleaguered federal workforce, the protesters said.

Sitting on a collection of picnic blankets and sleeping bags, around 20 people made signs and ate donuts. Questions of “How’s your job search going?” filled the air. Many of them said they’re still searching for work after the Trump administration’s widespread cuts.

Layne Morrison held up a sign that read “It’s not too late to fix this.” The former deputy chief data officer at the Education Department received a reduction-in-force, or RIF, notice earlier this year.

“Congress knows that valuable constituent services are in jeopardy. And the longer this has gone on since January, the more we see the consequences,” Morrison said.

The prospect of more RIFs hits close to home for these former feds, informally known as the Tuesday Group. Upping the ante from previous shutdowns, the Trump administration has told government workers to brace for not only furloughs but also mass firings.

The Office of Management and Budget issued a Sept. 24 memo advising agencies to consider RIFs in cases where there’s no other funding mechanism and the activity they work on is “not consistent with the President’s priorities.” That could leave 1,563 workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exposed, for example, along with others across the executive branch.

While a law passed in 2019 gives furloughed employees back pay in the event of a shutdown, they are still without paychecks until the government reopens. And the RIF threat adds an extra layer of anguish.

“To threaten to use RIFs as a political device, to me, seems unprecedented,” Morrison said.

As the former workers settled on the lawn outside of the Capitol, they were joined by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., along with Democratic Reps. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts, James R. Walkinshaw of Virginia and Jesús “Chuy” García of Illinois.

“All of you recognize that a shutdown gives them no more power to fire people than they have today, where it’s already lawless. And so when they say they’re going to do that, that really is just Mafia-style blackmail,” Van Hollen said to the group.

Across the plaza, a larger spectacle was playing out. House Democrats were busy staging multiple news conferences, blaming Republicans for the funding impasse. While the House was out of session, thanks to a scheduling change announced earlier this month by Speaker Mike Johnson, they made a point of showing up in person to deliver their message.

GOP leaders want a “clean” funding extension to temporarily keep the government open, but Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have been holding out for action on enhanced tax credits for health insurance bought on government-run exchanges, which will otherwise expire at the end of the year. While Democrats want it to be added to a continuing resolution, Republicans have argued it can be negotiated at a later time.

For the former federal workers who came to the Capitol on Tuesday, “time” is the key word. They worry that the federal workforce is seeing one blow after another, and they want members of Congress to hear them out.

Mack Schroeder, a former employee at the Department of Health and Human Services, said each new hit ripples through the federal workforce. Schroeder said he was laid off in February and has had a difficult time finding a new job since. With a shutdown around the corner that could affect basic services, the public may feel the pain that has been accumulating for months, he said.

“Even for people who don’t feel they’re directly impacted by the cuts in the spending bill or federal workers being pushed out of their jobs, I can guarantee that everyone has someone they know in their life or in their family who relies on these services and they just don’t know it yet,” he said. “Everybody has had someone in their family who’s aged into disability or needed end-of-life care, and I think especially with this shutdown and these cuts, I think more Americans are really going to see the impact more directly that they haven’t been seeing before.”

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