A Republican measure to immediately pay federal employees who have worked without pay during the shutdown failed to advance in the Senate on Thursday. But some lawmakers remain optimistic about reaching a bipartisan agreement on paying federal employees in the coming days.
Democrats largely rejected the Republicans' Shutdown Fairness Act, with the Senate voting 54-45. A Republican motion on the bill fell short of the 60 votes needed for a “stop vote” – a voting method that limits debate to move legislation to a final vote more quickly.
Three Democrats — Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) — joined Republicans in voting on the motion. Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) did not vote.
The Republican-led legislation would immediately pay wages to excepted workers who have continued working during the funding cutoff. But some Senate Democrats see the Shutdown Fairness Act as a way to give President Donald Trump more power to pay or withhold wages to certain federal employees during the shutdown. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the legislation a “trick.”
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“This is just another tool for Trump to hurt federal workers and American families and perpetuate the government shutdown,” Schumer said Thursday. “We will not give Donald Trump a license to play politics with people's livelihoods.”
Ahead of a vote on the Shutdown Fairness Act, Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced two alternatives on the Senate floor. Republicans rejected both Democratic proposals.
The “Real Shutdown Fairness Act” proposed by Democrats would provide immediate pay for furloughed and excepted employees, as well as military personnel and federal contractors. The bill would also prevent the Trump administration from continuing troop reductions (RIF) during the government shutdown. Earlier this month, most of the roughly 4,000 RIF notices sent by agencies to federal employees were blocked, at least temporarily, by court orders.
Separately, Democrats' Military and Federal Employee Protection Act is a more targeted bill that would simply pay furloughed and excepted federal employees, as well as contractors and service members, retroactive to Oct. 1, when the shutdown began.
Van Hollen took issue with the Republican Shutdown Fairness Act because it does not cover wages for furloughed employees and does not contain language that would prevent the Trump administration from conducting RIFs during funding outages.
“If you allow them to decide who to keep in the federal government and who to pay, then you're also giving them a blank check to decide who to send home and who to punish by not paying them,” Van Hollen said. “The recommendations we're making make it clear that in this government shutdown, federal employees — and yes, there are certain federal contractors who have nothing to do with the political situation that we're facing — they shouldn't have to bear the burden.”
Despite Thursday's failed vote, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the lead co-sponsor of the Shutdown Fairness Act, expressed optimism about reaching a bipartisan agreement to pay federal employees while the shutdown continues.
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“We're basically in agreement here,” Johnson told reporters. “I'm willing to increase furloughing workers and now it's just less force… I don't want to completely restrict the president, but I don't mind making sure Congress has a say in that as well.”
“I'm actually hopeful – I think we can figure this out over the weekend,” Johnson added. “This may also open a way for the government to open up.”
Many federal employees are expected to miss their first full paycheck in the coming days. Under a 2019 law, both exceptions and furloughed federal employees will receive retroactive pay once the government shutdown ends. The White House has questioned that assurance to furloughed employees, but many have objected to what they say is a clear misunderstanding of the law by the Trump administration.
The Trump administration has adjusted funding sources to compensate specific groups of the federal workforce. Active duty military members were paid on October 15th. The Department of Homeland Security's approximately 70,000 law enforcement officers are also being paid on time, although many DHS employees are still excluded from the payments.
Dave Spero, national president of the Professional Aviation Safety Professionals (PASS) union, which represents about 11,000 Federal Aviation Administration and Defense Department employees, said lawmakers' back-and-forth on pay legislation distracts from the “real issues.”
“Obviously we want people to get paid, but honestly we want the shutdown to end,” Spero said. “We don't want other types of bills to come into play to mitigate the effects of the shutdown — to stop the shutdown.”
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