By Chinta Strausberg
Facing an October 1 deadline, when the government may shut down, Congressman Danny Davis (D-7th) and Father Michael Pfleger said legislators must reject any budget that discards healthcare and social programs. Both leaders warned that if such cuts remain, it would be better to let the government “shut it down” than pass what they call an immoral plan.
Davis, who voted against the House bill, said he hopes Democrats in the Senate “will hold the line by not voting for a budget that will not protect healthcare.” The proposed Republican-backed budget, he warned, would close hospitals, community health centers, and nursing homes. “It cuts Medicaid, and it takes away the ability for people to get the kind of healthcare they deserve.”
That looming shutdown could begin October 1 if Congress fails to act by midnight the day before. For millions of Americans, that means federal agencies would scale back operations, federal workers might miss paychecks, and benefits such as food assistance could be disrupted. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 40 million people rely on SNAP, including a disproportionate share of Black and Latino families. Even a short delay, advocates say, would ripple through already struggling households.
Calling the cuts “a direct attack on the poor and the most vulnerable,” Pfleger said Democrats “caved in” during the last round of budget negotiations, choosing compromise over shutdown. “We cannot allow this to happen again,” he said. “A budget is a moral document that demonstrates the priorities and values of our country.”
Pfleger urged Democrats and what he called “conscientious Republicans” to “find the moral courage and conscience to stand up and say unless SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security are in this budget, they will vote no.”
Democrats are also pushing to permanently extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of 2025. According to the Congressional Budget Office, doing so would keep 3.8 million Americans insured. By contrast, Medicaid cuts in the GOP plan could cause 10 million to lose coverage.
The stalemate in Washington is driven by a refusal to negotiate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Davis said compromise is possible, but President Trump told Republicans not to meet with Democrats. On his Truth Social account, Trump dismissed Democrats’ demands as “unserious” and canceled a planned meeting with Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“Either he doesn’t know how to count, or he doesn’t know how Congress runs,” Schumer said in response. Davis, for his part, tried to strike a hopeful tone, recalling that many also doubted Jimmy Kimmel would return to late-night television until “people power” forced it.
Yet the risks are clear. Past shutdowns show what happens when Congress fails to fund the government. The longest shutdown, in 2018–2019, lasted 35 days, leaving federal employees working without pay, slowing food inspections, and putting added strain on low-income families. Pfleger said this one could be worse because of the programs on the chopping block. “It is better for the government to be forced to shut down than to pass a budget that discards the most vulnerable of our country.”
For Davis, the issue is especially urgent in Chicago, where safety-net hospitals are struggling. He pointed to the closure of Weiss Memorial Hospital as a warning sign of what Medicaid cuts mean. “Unless we can roll back and restore the public money that it takes for hospitals to operate, they will close. It’s Weiss today and another hospital tomorrow,” he said.
The stakes fall heaviest on those already on the margins. According to USAFacts, Black Americans make up about 18 percent of the federal workforce and would feel the loss of paychecks first, while the Food Research & Action Center reports that 26 percent of SNAP households are Black and another 16 percent are Latino. These programs keep food on the table and medicine within reach.
“This immoral, lawless administration is enriching the few while squeezing the poor and the middle class,” Pfleger said. “Our elected officials were sent to Washington to represent all of America, not just the 1 percent. We will be watching.”
As the congressional clock ticks toward October 1, the message from Davis and Pfleger is blunt: restore the cuts or let the government shut down.
The debate is often framed around communities of color, but the reality is broader—large numbers of white families also depend on SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare, and federal paychecks that could be interrupted if the government closes.
Who makes up “the rest” — White households and federal workers
To many readers, when we say “Black and Latino communities will be hardest hit,” they wonder: What about white Americans? It’s essential to understand that a shutdown or deep cuts would not spare any racial group, though the burden is uneven.
In the federal workforce, just over 61 percent of employees identify as white, while 18.2 percent identify as Black, according to USAFacts. That means a majority of federal workers are white—not surprising, but often left unspoken. So, if paychecks halt, many white families whose incomes depend on government work would also feel the squeeze.
On SNAP (food aid), about 37 percent of recipients are white, while 26 percent are Black and 16 percent Hispanic, according to the Food Research & Action Center. That means more than a third of those relying on SNAP are white households. A suspension or cut in benefits would strain many white families already living paycheck to paycheck.
Medicaid and Medicare cuts—central to the budget fight—also affect people of all races. In Medicaid, although racial and ethnic minorities are overrepresented, white, non-Hispanic adults still accounted for 45 percent of adult enrollees in a recent analysis by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission. That means almost half of adults on Medicaid are white. Cuts to health coverage would not only strike Black and Latino households, but also millions of white families with low or moderate incomes.
Social Security and Medicare benefits, often viewed as older Americans’ safety net, cut across racial lines. Many white retirees depend on Medicare or Social Security as their primary income or healthcare backbone. If the budget erodes those programs, it would endanger the financial security of older white Americans as much as any other group.
Weiss Memorial and the local racial picture
Davis pointed repeatedly to the closure of Weiss Memorial Hospital as a warning. Weiss served a diverse community on Chicago’s North Side and North Lawndale—areas that include Black and Latino residents, as well as white working-class neighborhoods. Its closure is illustrative of how hospital funding cuts ripple across communities regardless of race. The danger is that safety-net hospitals serving mixed populations will face closure, harming white patients too.
Sharon Fountain contributed to the story.