The Senate failed to pass a stand-alone bill on Thursday that would pay troops, leaving service members once again with no clear idea of where their next paycheck will come from next week.
The Republican-backed bill, called the Shutdown Fairness Act, was intended to pay “excepted” federal employees, service members, and contractors who have gone unpaid as the government shutdown surpasses its third week. The vote tallied 54 to 45, failing to reach the required 60 votes to pass, with most Democrats voting against it.
Before the vote, Republicans blocked legislation from Democrats that would have also paid troops, but would have stopped the Trump administration from axing more federal employees.
The failed vote comes after Senate Democrats blocked the GOP’s stopgap funding measure to reopen the government for the twelfth time on Wednesday. Democrats have tied reopening the government to extensions in Affordable Care Act subsidies and a reversal of Republican cuts to Medicaid.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) introduced the Shutdown Fairness Act last week amid an ongoing stalemate between Democrats and Republicans over the shutdown. The bill’s funding would not cover members of the Coast Guard or National Guard serving on federally funded state missions.
In a statement following the vote, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who sits on the Armed Services Committee, accused Democrats of using the shutdown to “play political tug-of-war” over federal workers.
“We’re talking about law enforcement officers, service members, air traffic controllers, and many more,” he said. “It’s time for Democrats to end their absurd obstruction and make sure essential workers can pay for housing and feed their families.”
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Democrats have pointed out that the bill would allow President Donald Trump’s administration to decide which federal employees get paid and which ones were “punished,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in the hour before the vote.
“It’s nothing more than another tool for Trump to hurt federal workers and American families and to keep this shutdown going for as long as he wants,” Schumer said. “We will not give Donald Trump a license to play politics with people’s livelihoods. That’s why we oppose this.”
The Shutdown Fairness Act would only pay federal employees who continued to work through the shutdown.
Three Democrats joined Republicans on the measure, including Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. Johnson, who introduced the Shutdown Fairness Act, objected to a request by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) to introduce the True Shutdown Fairness Act, which would also pay troops but block Trump from more mass layoffs.
Meanwhile, troops increasingly face the fear of missing a paycheck at the end of next week. Trump previously ordered the Pentagon to take $8 billion from research funds to pay service members their mid-month paycheck. Politico reported earlier this week that Trump would use alternative funds to pay troops if Congress could not pass legislation to do so, citing two anonymous White House officials.
