WASHINGTON, D.C. – On day 23 of the shutdown, the Senate will vote on a bill that would not end the shutdown, but it would pay some federal employees.
The Republican-led bill, known as the “Shutdown Fairness Act”, would pay servicemembers and so-called “excepted employees”. The administration determines those employees who are performing emergency work during a shutdown, like TSA agents, border patrol and air traffic controllers, just to name a few. Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick (R- PA) is one of the co-sponsors of the bill. He stressed the importance of paying people who are working on our behalf.
“The pain associated with the shutdown is growing,” said Senator McCormick. “So, we now have one-hundred thousand Pennsylvanians who are federal workers who aren’t being paid. This is an added stress for all those people who are working and doing hard jobs like border patrol and air traffic controllers. On top of that, there are 2-million recipients of SNAP that will not be getting their benefits, those SNAP payments and many of those families are living paycheck to paycheck and this is really starting to bite.”
Some Senate Democrats are proposing a counter bill to this one. They are suggesting putting forward a bill that would pay all federal employees during a shutdown. It’s unclear when a vote could happen on that.
