A self-described federal employee calls Sean Hannity's radio show to criticize his rhetoric on government shutdowns
Published
A self-described federal employee calls Sean Hannity's radio show to criticize his rhetoric on government shutdowns

Citation
From the September 26, 2025, edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show
CALLER: I wanted to talk about the government shutdown. You had made a comment yesterday that during a government shutdown that government employees go home for two weeks, sit on the couch, and then come back and get back pay, and that you thought that that practice should end. And I just want to say that I agree with most of what you say, but that yesterday kind of hit a nerve because I am a federal employee. I've been in law enforcement for over thirty years. We went through the DOGE critique, and we were deemed to be viable employees. And we're just the little guy. We're not the problem. The problem is the people out there, the legislators who cannot make a deadline.
So, I just wanted to let you know that I didn't like the comment because I know you're a champion for the little guy, and I just felt the comment just didn't sit well with us, the little guy, because I'm not doing anything wrong. I come to work every day, and I just want to get paid. And I think during a government shutdown, the legislators should be locked in a room 24 hours a day until they can get an agreement and not get paid and let me come to work and do what I do every day, and I feel like I do a great job. And I represent the government and the law enforcement community.
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SEAN HANNITY (HOST): If there is a government shutdown, it will be on the Democrats. Right now, they are demanding a trillion dollars in new spending. I don't either -- I don't want to rob from our children and grandchildren. We're in a tough spot here. We have to take a stand. We have to get our budget in balance. We have to grow the economy. And, you know, Democrats are fighting for, you know, for services for illegal immigrants. They're fighting for more DEI programs. They're fighting for things that we ought not be, you know, spending any money on, and we saw how reckless their spending was before. I'll make another argument to you, and this is not designed to ever, you know, talk down the importance of people's work and the jobs that they do, but our government is bloated. It has too large a workforce. There's too much of a bureaucracy. I am a believer in limited government, greater freedom.
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CALLER: No, I 100% agree with what you're saying, and I agree that this is the Dems. You know, we just spent the better part of the first nine months of President Trump's administration cutting a trillion dollars and they want to put it back. Well, elections have consequences, and I agree with smaller government, all of that. And if I made you feel like I didn't think you cared about the little guy, that's not my intent. My intent is that it's not our fault. These budgets, it's like Christmas, you know Christmas is December 25 every year.
They know that the budget is due September 30 every year. They can't do their job. Do your job. Get that budget so that -- you know, I got a mortgage to pay. I got bills to pay, and I want my kids to prosper. And we're 100%. We both live in Florida, right? We know what we're doing. So, all I'm trying -- my only point was -- it's just I don't want people to think that all government employees lean one way or the other or that we just sit around and eat bonbons.