Top union leader says stop playing politics as GOP shutdown drags on

The head of the United States’ largest federal workers union is blasting Congress as the government shutdown drags into its second month—the second-longest in U.S. history—forcing hundreds of thousands of employees to miss another round of paychecks.

Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees—which represents more than 820,000 government workers—took aim at lawmakers on Monday, warning that the political standoff has gone too far.

“Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight,” he wrote in a statement. “Today I’m making mine: it’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today. No half measures, and no gamesmanship.”

A “clean” continuing resolution keeps the government running at current