The Democratic senators blocked a Republican proposal intended to pay military troops and certain federal workers during the government shutdown USAin a new sign that the budget stagnation shows no signs of resolving soon.
The motion to move forward with the project was rejected this Thursday with 54 votes in favor and 45 againstfalling short of the 60 votes necessary for its approval.
Since the start of the shutdown, Democrats have blocked 12 times temporary spending measures in the Senate, arguing that they cannot support them without including new funding for the health system.
The project, promoted by the republican senator Ron Johnsonof Wisconsin, would have guaranteed pay to employees who must continue working from the beginning of the shutdown on October 1 and allowed them to continue receiving their salaries. However, it did not cover the hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal employees who the administration considers non-essential.
“As long as Democrats maintain the shutdown promoted by Schumer, they should at least agree to pay all federal employees forced to continue working”Johnson said in a statement.
Democrats argued that the bill would give the president donald trump too much discretion to decide which federal workers should continue performing their duties during the shutdown.
“We will not give Donald Trump a license to play politics with people’s livelihoods. That is why we oppose Johnson’s proposal: because it does not end the suffering caused by the shutdown, but rather prolongs it. The only way to pay all federal employees is for Republicans to take this seriously, sit down to negotiate with Democrats, address the health crisis and reopen the government.”declared the minority leader Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer.
Georgia Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, along with Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, voted with Republicans on the procedural motion.
The Most federal employees will lose their first full paycheck this Friday since the start of the shutdown. The air traffic controllers will also be affected starting Tuesday, which could cause flight delays if absences due to dissatisfied workers increase.
The armed forces received their salary on October 15 after the White House resorted to a maneuver of dubious legality to use unspent Pentagon research funds. However, legislators warned that the Executive no longer has additional funds to continue paying troops and federal employees.
He Senator Chris Van Hollenof Maryland, along with twenty other Democrats, expressed their intention to vote on a bill that guarantees payment to all federal employees and prohibits the White House from making massive layoffs during the closure. The administration has attempted to lay off about 6,000 workers, although a judge temporarily blocked that move.
Until now there are no signs that Republicans are willing to negotiate with Democrats the extension of health insurance tax credits Obamacare as long as the government remains closed. Republicans maintain that the Democratic counterproposal, valued at 1.5 trillion dollarsis not serious and that accepting what they call a ransom demand would set a bad precedent.
trumpwho will leave this week for an extensive trip through Asia, rejected a request from Schumer himself and the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, to enter into negotiations.
The Senate is scheduled to leave Washington this Thursday afternoon for a long weekend and return Monday night. The president of the House of Representatives, Michael Johnsonhas kept lawmakers out of the capital since September 19 and there are no plans for them to return next week.
(Bloomberg)
