Senate Dems oppose shutdown act to pay select soldiers, workers

Senate Dems oppose shutdown act to pay select soldiers, workers
by Mike Heuer
Washington DC (UPI) Oct 23, 2025

The Senate failed to approve a measure on Thursday that would pay active military and federal workers in essential jobs as the government shutdown continues.

The proposed Republican measure is called the Shutdown Fairness Act and requires bipartisan support to attain the 60 votes needed to pass the bill and send it to the House for consideration.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is the bill's primary sponsor, but it failed in a Senate vote on Thursday with 54 voting in its favor and 45 opposing it, according to CBS News.

Sixty votes are needed to pass a funding bill in the Senate to overcome a filibuster.

Senate Democrats John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Jon Ossoff of Georgia voted to approve the Shutdown Fairness Act.

The proposed act would have paid essential federal workers, such as active military, air traffic controllers, border patrol and others.

Democrats who opposed the bill argued that it gave the Trump administration too much say over which workers would get paid by declaring them as essential workers.

Senate Democrats proposed an alternative bill to pay all federal workers, including those who have been laid off, but the GOP-controlled Senate did not consider it.

The Senate debate on the Shutdown Fairness Act began at 12:15 p.m. EDT and a day after the Senate failed for a 12th time to pass a temporary funding measure to reopen the federal government by extending the 2026 budget through Nov. 21.

There is no vote scheduled on Thursday for the GOP's House-approved continuing resolution, which ensures the government shutdown will continue for at least one more day.

The 23-day shutdown is the second-longest in the nation's history and is exceeded only by a 35-day shutdown from December 2018 to January 2019.

That shutdown occurred due to Democrats' opposition to border wall funding.

The current shutdown largely involves Democrats' demand that the temporary funding bill include $1.5 trillion in additional spending over the next 10 years to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits that were created amid the COVID-19 pandemic and were extended through the end of 2025.

Senate Republicans say that issue should be addressed in the 2026 fiscal year budget instead of a temporary funding bill.

Senate Democrats also want to expand Medicaid, which Republicans have argued would enable states to use taxpayer funds to cover the cost of providing healthcare for those who are not legal residents.

Democrats deny the accusation and continue opposing the House-approved continuing resolution.

Senate Democrats had introduced an alternative temporary funding bill that would have funded the federal government through Oct. 31 and included the additional spending, but the Senate voted against it.