"Senate Democrats and Republicans each defeated the other party's plan to pay at least some federal employees on time amid the ongoing government shutdown, though both sides appeared to open the door to bipartisan negotiations on the issue. The Senate voted 54-45 on a motion to begin floor consideration of legislation unveiled earlier this week by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., that would immediately pay all "excepted" employees who are forced to work during the appropriations lapse, as defined by the Office of Personnel Management. The measure needed 60 votes to advance; Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, both D-Ga., voted in favor of the motion."
"Prior to the vote, Democrats advanced their own proposals, both introduced Thursday morning, to pay feds on time. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., advanced a plan to pay all federal workers, regardless of their furlough or excepted status, military servicemembers and contractors, as well as bar the White House from pursuing reductions in force during the shutdown. And Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., proposed a narrower measure that would simply pay all federal workers and contractors for what they would have earned between Oct. 1 and the bill's enactment, had the government been open."
"Van Hollen said that Democrats object to two elements of Johnson's plan: that it only pays employees deemed excepted by OPM, rather than all federal workers and contractors, on time; and that it does not address the administration's effort to lay off feds during the shutdown, implementation of which has been at least partially blocked by a federal judge in California. "Our proposal does not discriminate among federal employees," Van Hollen said. "Here's the really dangerous part of Sen. Johnson's proposal: we have a President Trump, along with Russ V"
Senators from both parties blocked opposing proposals to provide timely pay to federal employees amid the government shutdown. A 54-45 Senate vote failed to advance Sen. Ron Johnson's plan to immediately pay all Office of Personnel Management-defined "excepted" employees, falling short of the 60 votes required, with three Democrats joining Republicans in support. Democrats proposed two measures: one to pay all federal workers, contractors and servicemembers and bar reductions in force, and a narrower bill to compensate workers and contractors for lost earnings from Oct. 1 through enactment. Democrats object to limiting pay to only OPM-designated excepted employees and to not addressing administration layoff efforts.
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