Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Thursday objected to a request by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) for the Senate to immediately consider and pass a bill to pay all federal workers, members of the military and federal contractors during the 2025 government shutdown.
The True Shutdown Fairness Act would also prevent the Trump administration from attempting mass layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown, employee restructurings known as reductions in force.
Van Hollen’s request came shortly before the Senate was slated to vote on a bill from Johnson to pay active-duty members of the military and other federal employees who have been required to work during the shutdown.
The Maryland Democrat, speaking on the Senate floor, said the best way to take care of federal workers would be to reopen the federal government and he blasted House Republicans for being “AWOL” and on an extended recess during the shutdown.
“We should not be punishing federal employees for something they had nothing to do with. They’re not responsible. They’re innocent bystanders,” he said.
Johnson noted that there was a lot of overlap between Van Hollen’s bill and his own Shutdown Fairness Act.
He suggested that Van Hollen support the procedural motion to allow the Senate to proceed to his own bill, so that it could be debated and amended — and perhaps even passed — on the Senate floor.
Johnson said that simply approving Van Hollen’s bill by unanimous consent without review and debate would not be the right way to go about it.
“Passing it by unanimous consent is not the way to get it done,” he said.
