Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Tuesday that there would be “strong” support within the Senate Republican Conference for a proposal offered to Democrats by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to pay all federal workers — both essential and furloughed — during the government shutdown.
Democrats will be under pressure to support the proposal after Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, called on Congress on Monday to “pass a clean continuing resolution” to “end this shutdown today.”
Johnson, the lead GOP negotiator on paying federal employees during the shutdown, has made a major concession by proposing to pay all federal workers — essential and furloughed employees — during the shutdown. His initial Shutdown Fairness Act would have paid only essential workers, such as members of the military and air traffic controllers.
Thune said the latest proposal is likely to pick up strong GOP support, which puts the ball in the Democrats’ court for easing the financial burdens felt by hundreds of thousands of federal workers.
“I’ve talked to him several times about it over the weekend, and we all voted for it last week,” Thune, said referring to the Shutdown Fairness Act.
He said if Johnson wants to expand his bill to pay furloughed workers during the shutdown, it would still have a lot of GOP support.
“If he wants to add the other, I think he’d probably have good, strong support from our side. As you recall, it was the Democrats who blocked that last week,” Thune added.
Three Democrats voted last week for Johnson’s proposal to pay essential workers during the shutdown: Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who faces a competitive reelection next year.
Ossoff told reporters last week that military service members, Transportation Security Administration workers and air traffic controllers should be paid if they’re required to show up to work.
Johnson is negotiating with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on the proposal. Van Hollen has introduced the True Shutdown Fairness Act, which would pay all federal employees during the shutdown but includes language to prevent the Trump administration from ordering mass layoffs while the government is closed. Johnson blocked that bill last week.
