EXCLUSIVE: Independent Women Urges Dem Leadership To End Government Shutdown

The Independent Women (IW) group is urging Democrat leadership to end the government shutdown using the stories of Americans who have been affected by the hold out, the Daily Caller learned first.

IW sent letters, obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller, to House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday. The organization wrote to Jeffries and Schumer that the shutdown has caused “undeserving victims” to be “caught in the crossfire of Washington’s dysfunction.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Everyday Americans Say They’re Done With Democrats’ Shutdown In New White House Video)

During the shutdown, IW launched a “Gridlock Hurts Real People” initiative, which encourages Americans to share how the government closure has affected them. The organization has received 500 submissions from citizens across the country who are suffering during the shutdown. In the letter, IW shared stories from members of the military, those battling illness and others they received.

“Their stories reveal the very real human cost of your refusal to act: A mother in Alabama shared that her son, a service member, and his family are struggling to pay rent and buy groceries without his regular paycheck,” the letters read.

“This is selfish abuse of power to meet political goals,” the mother wrote, according to the letter. “We’re not stupid.”

“I depend on government programs for survival. Please have compassion—these games are risking the lives of your most vulnerable citizens,” a woman in North Carolina battling cancer wrote to the organization.

The letter tells other Americans’ stories, including one from a Virginia military wife whose family is at risk of starving and losing their home if they do not receive pay soon. One woman told IW that her Navy family can’t access the relocation funds they were promised to move across the country.

“Democratic leaders Schumer and Jeffries have a chance to show true leadership in the face of the pain their gamesmanship has inflicted on regular Americans. The plea of a scared mother worried about feeding her twins while her husband is deployed should rattle their souls. We’re on a serious precipice,” Patrice Onwuka, director of Independent Women’s Center for Economic Opportunity, said in a statement to the Caller.

“Over 40 million Americans risk losing food benefits next week. Millions of people don’t know when they’ll be paid. This moment calls for our nation’s leaders to listen to the American people and reopen the government,” she added.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) (L) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) talk to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on September 29, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The government shut down on Oct. 1 after Senate Democrats voted against a clean continuing resolution and demanded increased funding for Medicaid, including Affordable Care Act subsidies and reimbursements for spending from states on illegal immigrants.

President Donald Trump met with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought at the start of the shutdown to discuss how they could downsize the federal government while the Senate debated the continuing resolution.

Vought announced on X that mass layoffs had begun just nine days into the government shutdown. More than 4,000 federal workers were fired, according to a court filing. A district judge later paused the layoffs, Politico reported.

“Democrats are using our troops and veterans as political pawns, forcing those who defend this nation to bear the cost of Washington’s dysfunction. Every missed paycheck erodes trust, morale, and the covenant between the nation and those who serve it,” Meaghan Mobbs, director of Independent Women’s Center for American Safety and Security, told the Caller in a statement.