The Senate is set to vote Thursday on advancing a measure to pay federal employees who are working through the shutdown, as Republican leaders put pressure on Democrats who have largely remained opposed to efforts to restart funding.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune earlier this week teed up consideration of the measure, which he said “essentially would pay anybody who’s currently working.” The procedural vote on advancing the measure would require 60 votes to succeed.
The bill, known as the Shutdown Fairness Act and sponsored by GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, would pay “excepted” federal employees whose work is considered essential during a period of lapsed funding. Those workers continue to work but don’t get back pay until the shutdown is over. Nonessential workers are placed on furlough but also get back pay.
Johnson’s bill would appropriate “such sums as are necessary” to pay the non-furloughed workers while the shutdown is ongoing. It would also pay members of the military, as well as contractors who support excepted employees and are “required to perform work during a lapse in appropriations.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, delivered a marathon speech on the Senate floor that stretched 22 hours and 37 minutes across Tuesday and Wednesday, protesting President Trump’s policies in one of the longest addresses in the chamber in recent years.
Merkley, 68, began speaking at 6:21 p.m. on Tuesday and continued until 4:58 p.m. Wednesday. Over the course of the speech, he railed against the Trump administration for its deportation efforts, canceled federal programs, so-called weaponization of the Justice Department and efforts to send the National Guard into American cities — including Portland, Oregon.
“I’ve come to the Senate floor tonight to ring the alarm bells,” Merkley said at the outset of his speech. “We’re in the most perilous moment, the biggest threat to our republic since the Civil War. President Trump is shredding our Constitution.”
A slew of Merkley’s fellow Democrats took turns asking him extended questions, giving him breaks over the course of his speech and providing a platform for other senators to make their own arguments. The address was the fourth-longest in the Senate since 1900, according to the Senate Press Gallery.
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The Senate vote on advancing the continuing resolution to end the shutdown failed to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to succeed for a 12th time on Thursday evening.
The final vote was 54-46. Three Democrats voted in favor of the GOP-backed bill, echoing every vote since the shutdown began.
