© 2026 NPR Illinois
For your right to be curious.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Join the NPR Illinois team!

Community Voices is seeking a co-host/editor to join Jeff Williams and Randy Eccles in getting to know our neighbors and more. Apply by May 25, 5 p.m.

The news department is seeking part-time fill-in anchor/reporters who are available either weekdays from 5:30 to 9 a.m. and/or 3:30 to 6 p.m. Apply by June 5, 5 p.m.

Furloughed federal workers want to 'stop being used as pawns' in government shutdown

The Capitol is seen on day 34 of the government shutdown, in Washington, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The Capitol is seen on day 34 of the government shutdown, in Washington, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

As Republicans and Democrats remain deadlocked in their fight over health care subsidies, hundreds of thousands of federal workers are paying the price.

WBUR’s Anthony Brooks reports.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2025 WBUR

Anthony Brooks has more than twenty five years of experience in public radio, working as a producer, editor, reporter, and most recently, as a fill-in host for NPR. For years, Brooks has worked as a Boston-based reporter for NPR, covering regional issues across New England, including politics, criminal justice, and urban affairs. He has also covered higher education for NPR, and during the 2000 presidential election he was one of NPR's lead political reporters, covering the campaign from the early primaries through the Supreme Court's Bush V. Gore ruling. His reports have been heard for many years on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition.