Statement by National NOW President Kim Villanueva
October 1, 2025
Why is this federal shutdown different from all other shutdowns?
Because this one is less about how the government spends its money and more about how much raw power Donald Trump can wield over every aspect of our lives – especially women’s lives.
Donald Trump wants chaos, not progress. He sees the shutdown as a weapon to continue his assault on healthcare for women and children, nutrition benefits for moms and babies, and millions of federal workers Trump perceives as personal enemies.
Now, Donald Trump says he’ll use the shutdown to continue his firing spree that’s devastating the federal workforce, which has already cost more than 300,000 jobs.
What’s more, this shutdown is a backdoor attack on Affordable Care Act with Senate Republicans willing to let the ACA premium tax credits lapse, causing costs to skyrocket for millions of people and increasing the number of uninsured people by more than 30 million over the next decade.
A deal to keep the government open by extending ACA credits was on the table, but Trump rejected it, preferring to use the shutdown as a lever to take away healthcare from millions of women, children and families.
Trump’s shutdown nightmare is a cruel strategy designed only to inflict maximum pain. Nearly 42 million Americans will lose access to SNAP, and the vast majority of the 7 million women, infants and children who rely on WIC will see an immediate slash in their benefits.
And the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s budget bill will continue to place 6 million women at risk of losing health coverage.
Donald Trump would rather shut down the government than make health care more affordable, government more responsible, and women’s future more livable. But women will remember who fought for them during this time of crisis, and who did nothing to help.