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A half dozen House Democrats called for the Senate leader to step aside this week.

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Senate Democrats have again blocked a Republican-led effort to immediately pay federal employees under the government shutdown, arguing that the GOP bill in its current form does not include enough guardrails on the Trump administration. All but three Democrats voted down the advancement of the Shutdown Fairness Act, resulting in a vote of 53-43 on the Senate floor Friday evening. The motion failed to reach the 60 votes required to limit debate and move the legislation more quickly to a final vote. After the bill failed to move forward two weeks ago, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the bill’s lead cosponsor, expanded the legislation to include furloughed employees and federal contractors. The bill initially only provided immediate pay for excepted employees who are continuing to work during the funding lapse. The Shutdown Fairness Act would apply for the current shutdown, and payments would be backdated to Oct. 1, when the shutdown began. Ahead of the vote on the bill, Johnson pushed back against Democrats’ arguments and denied that it would give too much leeway to the Trump administration. “I know some people want to reduce authority, but that’s a bill that won’t be signed,” Johnson said. “If you want to pay the federal workers, if you want to stop punishing them for our dysfunction, if you want to stop using them as pawns in this political game, that’s a demand you have to drop.” Earlier on Friday, Johnson attempted to move forward the Shutdown Fairness Act with a motion for unanimous consent. But Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) blocked the motion, arguing that Johnson’s bill would not prevent the Trump administration from limiting the pay to only select groups of the federal workforce, or from using the bill’s funds for purposes outside of paying employees. “I just deeply, deeply appreciate that Senator Johnson has updated his proposal to pay all federal employees during the shutdown to include furloughed workers,” Peters said. “But unfortunately, I just still have some concerns about the way that the bill has been drafted so far … There’s too much wiggle room for the administration to basically pick and choose which federal employees are paid and when.” “Every employee is now included. There’s no discretion whatsoever in terms of who’s furloughed, who gets brought back to work, who gets paid,” Johnson responded. “There’s no picking and choosing. That is completely false.” Most civilian federal employees have missed their second paycheck as of Friday. Hundreds of thousands of employees have been working without pay for the duration of the shutdown, while hundreds of thousands of others have been furloughed for weeks. Throughout the shutdown, the Trump administration has shuffled funding to compensate select groups of the federal workforce, as well as military members, while hundreds of thousands of others continue to go without pay. Peters pushed for the passage of a counterproposal, called the Military and Federal Employee Protection Act. Peters’ bill is similar to Johnson’s, but it additionally clarifies that the Trump administration cannot use the bill’s funds for purposes other than paying employees. After the unanimous consent motion was struck down, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) then called for a vote to invoke cloture on the Shutdown Fairness Act, which later failed Friday evening. “I don’t know how anybody in their right mind can walk into this chamber, look these people in the eye, and say, ‘We’re not going to pay you,’” Thune said. The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, endorsed Johnson’s legislation, calling it “long overdue.” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said Friday that the amended version was a “significant improvement,” since it now covers furloughed employees and contractors as well. The union urged Congress to pass the bill. “Every missed paycheck deepens the financial hole in which federal workers and their families find themselves,” Kelley said. “By the time Congress reaches a compromise, the damage will have been done — to their bank accounts, their credit ratings, their health and their dignity.” Last week, AFGE also called on Congress to pass a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government. The union said the shutdown has gone on far too long — and that any political arguments should only continue once the funding lapse is ended and all federal employees are paid. All excepted and furloughed federal employees are guaranteed retroactive pay once a shutdown ends, due to a 2019 law. But the White House has recently called that guarantee into question, arguing that the law does not automatically ensure back pay for furloughed employees. Many lawmakers, attorneys and unions have pushed back against what they described as a clear misinterpretation of the law from the White House. There appeared to be some bipartisan progress earlier this week toward putting an end to the government shutdown. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday made a new offer to reopen the government, although Bloomberg reported that Republicans saw the proposal as a “nonstarter.” The Senate is expected to stay in session over the weekend for the first time since the shutdown began. The House has remained out of session since September.The post Senate Democrats block GOP motion to pay federal employees immediately first appeared on Federal News Network.