Maryland and its Democrat-dominated congressional delegation sit in the crosshairs of the federal government spending fight. Shut it down, and the large federal workforce will lose paychecks. Keep it open, and Democrats surrender leverage to broker change.

The state’s Democrats in Congress say they don’t want a shutdown but have joined the partisan deadlock over how to fund the government past Tuesday. They’ve locked arms with their party, bargaining for health care concessions in exchange for the votes to get a spending bill through the Senate.

It’s a gamble they’ve said they’re willing to take in the face of a president who’s gutting federal institutions, bypassing their power and taking benefits away from millions of Americans.

“I‘m not going to vote to fund Donald Trump’s continued illegal activity and violation of the law,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen said.

Congress clocked out last week without agreeing on a plan, leaving states reliant on federal dollars and jobs, like Maryland, facing uncertainty.

A House Republican bill that would have funded the government for seven weeks fell flat in the Senate. Democrats proposed an alternative that adds back health care benefits for millions of people Republicans scheduled for elimination. It also failed to pass.

The finger-pointing in both directions has continued during this past week’s recess. Neither side has flinched.

“The Republican House did its job,” said U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, the state’s lone Republican in Congress, referencing the bill that Senate majority leader John Thune could bring back to the Senate this week.

“And yet the Democrats somehow think that it’s a good idea, including the seven Maryland [House] Democrats, who all voted to shut the government down last week,” said Harris, who represents the Eastern Shore, Harford County and portions of Baltimore County.

But Republicans control the White House and Congress, said U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, and have failed to seek bipartisan solutions since the Trump administration took office.

“If Trump is truly the greatest negotiator in the world, then he should have no objections to joining with Democrats, who are ready to talk, to keep the government open,” Raskin said last week. “What’s the president afraid of?”

Raskin’s remarks came after the Trump administration threatened mass firings of federal workers unless Democrats handed over the Senate votes. Raskin’s Montgomery County district has an estimated 55,000 federal workers.

Those livelihoods frequently hang in the balance of partisan shutdown talks. Maryland has lost more federal jobs during Trump’s second term than any other state, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, a Democrat representing Southern Maryland, said, even if a Senate compromise is reached before Tuesday, the House adjourned until Oct. 1 and won’t be there to vote for it.

Hoyer blasted the Trump administration for its treatment of federal workers, saying they are not “political pawns” but patriots.

“Those who want the government to stay open and operating don’t threaten to purge the very people who make it work,” he said.

Congress members said they’ve heard constituents want them to fight the Republican agenda.

Van Hollen called Trump’s threats “Mafia-style blackmail” that will ultimately harm the American people.

“These threats are not only an attack on Americans’ services and benefits. They’re also likely illegal,” he said.

Aligning with Republicans now will not stop the president from firing hardworking public servants, U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey said. The Prince George’s County Democrat said this is the time to fight back.

Allowing Republicans to plow ahead without throwing sand in the gears would be far worse, Democrats said.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks said she was voting no because the cuts approved in the Republican-led bill, often called One Big Beautiful Bill, “will devastate Maryland families.”

“We’re seeing hit after hit after hit to health care access in this country,” said U.S. Rep. Sarah Elfreth, who represents Howard and portions of Anne Arundel and Carroll counties. She said she wants bipartisan negotiations to address health care affordability.

Meanwhile, the potential federal government shutdown is one of multiple financial stressors state officials are watching, as the Free State’s economy is tightly tied to the country’s purse strings.

Gov. Wes Moore said he does not support a government shutdown because of the outsize impact on Maryland and found it “embarrassing that Washington cannot find a way of staying out of one.”

But he said he’d also like to see a budget “that doesn’t kick people off health care.”

Moore listed the cuts and policy decisions in the Republican’s tax bill expected to hit Marylanders. An estimated 175,000 residents could lose Medicaid and hundreds of millions of dollars would be stripped from rural hospitals, he said.

Maryland’s workforce has also taken a hit. Since taking office, the Trump administration has cut 15,000 federal jobs in Maryland and has crippled or shuttered federal agencies headquartered in the state.

“Donald Trump has been pushing for a federal government shutdown for a very long time,” Moore said. “Because that’s exactly what he’s been doing to the state of Maryland for the past nine months.”

Maryland’s economy suffered an acute blow during the most recent and longest federal government shutdown, missing out on more than $57 million in state and local withholdings and $2 million in sales tax, according to the comptroller’s office.

That shutdown lasted 35 days and started in December 2018 under the first Trump administration, but it had little long-term impact on Maryland’s economy, according to state reports.

However, the effects of another budget fight, the sequestration that took effect in 2013, lasted for years.

Maryland House and Senate leaders, both Democrats, declined to comment on the ongoing federal negotiations, or lack thereof, between Congress members of both parties.

At a meeting discussing state finances, Treasurer Dereck Davis, a Democrat, lamented the repeat cycle of potential federal government shutdowns. He said state officials are responsible for making things work, even in uncertainty.

He predicted this won’t be the last time.

“We’ll be here next year saying the same thing,” he said.