Thousands of KC IRS workers brace for federal shutdown. ‘People are angry.’
Internal Revenue Service employees across the Kansas City region are bracing for the full impact of a federal government shutdown poised to force thousands home without pay.
National Treasury Employees Union, or NTEU, Chapter 66 president Shannon Ellis told The Star on Wednesday that IRS employees are temporarily protected from the shutdown for five days due to funding from the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
After that, however, the major Kansas City employer is expected to feel the brunt of the shutdown.
“Every one of us will be impacted,” Ellis said. “Either you’ll be forced to come in and not get paid or you will be sitting home not getting paid.”
Ellis represents roughly 5,000 IRS employees at the agency’s Kansas City campus. Less than 100 are expected to be considered exempt from a furlough and will continue to get paid, she said.
The federal government began shutting down on Wednesday after Congress failed to pass legislation to fund government operations. As lawmakers and the Trump administration point fingers, the standoff is poised to leave thousands of workers without pay.
Ellis said she and the thousands of IRS workers in Kansas City are being used as pawns in a political game.
“You can’t pay your child care because you’re not getting paid, you can’t buy groceries, you can’t get your medication, you can’t do a lot of things that you work to pay,” Ellis said. “People are angry.”
Shutdown hits IRS workers in KC
The shutdown also comes as the IRS is still reeling from a wave of cuts enacted by the Trump administration and billionaire Elon Musk. Thousands of workers in numerous departments were laid off or fired as the Trump administration sliced through the federal workforce.
“This is a power grab,” Ellis said. “Every American is going to pay the price for these agencies being gutted from day one of this administration all the way through this furlough, which we’re being told could last a very long time.”
Ellis said IRS employees, like all federal workers, are supposed to be reimbursed at the end of the shutdown.
“But here’s the problem, it’s still going without pay,” Ellis said. “It’s not putting gas in your tank to get to and from work because you’re not getting paid. You can’t pay your child care because you’re not getting paid. You can’t buy groceries, you can’t get your medication, you can’t do a lot of things that you work to pay.”
It remains unclear how long the furloughs will last. The last time the federal government shut down in 2018, it was the longest in history at 35 days.
As Kansas City federal workers gird for furloughs, Ellis emphasized that residents will also feel the impact of the shutdown.
“Americans need to really pay attention to why this is happening, what roles that these government federal employees play in the services you depend on,” Ellis said. “Every time you drink water, somebody has made sure that that was clean enough for you to drink.”
Those are federal employees, she said, who are poised to be fired, cut or furloughed.
“Americans need to understand that,” she said.
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 5:13 PM.
