Senate Democrats largely brushed off the pleas of a longtime party ally to end the 28-day government shutdown on Tuesday, rejecting a clean funding measure to reopen the government for the 13th time.
Senators voted 54 to 45 to temporarily fund the government through Nov. 21, falling short of the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. The vote tally has remained unchanged since the opening days of the shutdown with the same three Democratic caucus members — Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine — crossing party lines to reopen the government.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to prolong the shutdown comes after the country’s largest federal workers union called on Democrats to vote for the House-passed spending bill to reopen the government without mentioning either party by name.
“Federal workers – your constituents, who serve your constituents – are hurting,” American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) national president Everett Kelley wrote in an open letter on Monday. “As president of the largest federal employee union, I cannot countenance the sight of workers I represent standing in food lines. It should trouble the conscience of every member of Congress and indeed every American.”
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, told reporters that his caucus were taking federal workers’ concerns “seriously.” Hundreds of thousands of federal workers missed their first full paycheck of the shutdown on Friday and more federal employees, including air traffic controllers, did not receive their government salary on Tuesday.
“It has a lot of impact,” Durbin said of AFGE’s call for an end to the shutdown. “They’ve been our friends.”
However, Durbin signaled on Tuesday that Democrats would keep the government shuttered until their various partisan demands are met.
“The increase in health insurance [premiums], I think is going to be devastating for American families,” Durbin told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Senate Republicans have excoriated Democrats for choosing to continue the shutdown despite a bevy of federal food aid and early childhood support programs slated to run out of funding on or before Nov. 1.
“The pain is becoming intolerable for the American people,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso told the DCNF on Tuesday. “I see it at the grocery store, and if that [Women, Infants and Children program] goes away this Saturday, I expect I’m going to hear a lot about it at the grocery store.”
“I don’t know if the Democrats go out into public and talk to people, but the pain is significant already, and the Democrats view that as leverage,” Barrasso continued.
Fetterman, who has emerged as a vocal critic of Schumer’s shutdown strategy, argued that Democrats should listen to the federal workers union’s plea to vote for the bipartisan spending bill and end the shutdown.
“Our servicemembers, federal workers, and Capitol Police are hurting. It’s one of many reasons why I’ve continuously voted to open our government,” Fetterman wrote on X on Monday. “We need to end this chaos.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has continued to hold out hope that a handful of rank-and-file Democrats will buck Schumer to end the shutdown.
“I’m hoping enough [Democrats] come to their senses to give us the five votes that we need to actually get the government reopened again,” Thune told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday evening. “But they are playing a game, and these demands that they have … [are] not serious. It’s not realistic, and they know it.
“And all we’re simply trying to do is fund the government at last year’s levels and keep it open until we can get the appropriations process going,” Thune continued.
Andi Shae Napier contributed to this report.
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