- Senate failed to advance bipartisan bill to guarantee timely pay for essential "excepted" federal workers, falling short 53-60 amid shutdown's 38th day.
- Unpaid air traffic controllers and other staff strain services—potential 20% flight cuts, mounting personal hardship, and mounting political blame game.
The marble halls of the U.S. Capitol, usually buzzing with the hum of deal-making and hurried footsteps, felt more like a pressure cooker Friday night.
As the government shutdown dragged into its 38th day—the longest in American history—senators from both sides of the aisle clashed over a lifeline for the very people keeping the country running: air traffic controllers, border agents, and military personnel who show up to work without a paycheck in sight.
In a tense 7 p.m. vote, the Senate fell agonizingly short of advancing a bipartisan bill aimed at ensuring timely pay for these essential workers.
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The measure, a tweaked version of Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s “Shutdown Fairness Act,” scraped together 53 yes votes but needed 60 to clear the procedural hurdle.
Three Democrats—Sens. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Jon Ossoff of Georgia, and Raphael Warnock of Georgia—crossed the line to join Republicans, a rare show of pragmatism amid the partisan trench warfare.
But it wasn’t enough. Four senators skipped the vote altogether: Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Republicans John Cornyn of Texas, Jerry Moran of Kansas, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
The Effects on Federal Employees
For the uninitiated, here’s how this works in shutdown hell: “Excepted” federal employees—those deemed too critical to pause—are required to clock in during lapses in funding.
But under current law, their paychecks don’t hit until Congress patches things up and retroactively cuts the checks.
It’s a cruel catch-22 that’s left thousands scraping by on credit cards and food pantry lines, all while the lights stay on for the rest of us.
The bill’s defeat wasn’t just a procedural fizzle; it was a stark reminder of how high the stakes have climbed. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, appearing on Fox News earlier that evening, painted a grim picture of the ripple effects.
With air traffic controllers stretched thin—many calling out due to unpaid bills and family strains—major airports are staring down flight cuts that could balloon to 20% by next week.
“I assess the data,” Duffy said coolly, underscoring the FAA’s data-driven dread. “We’re going to make decisions based on what we see in the airspace.”
Imagine that: straggling holiday travelers, already fuming over delays, facing outright cancellations just as Thanksgiving looms.
The White House hasn’t been shy about pinning the blame, issuing statements that lambast “congressional Democrats” for stranding passengers and gumming up medical evacuations.
Official Statements
Sen. Johnson, the bill’s architect from Wisconsin, didn’t mince words on X after the vote. “Democrats really need to search their consciences and ask themselves whether they are willing to require ‘planes falling out of the sky’ before they vote to pay federal employees, including air traffic controllers,” he posted, his words dripping with frustration.
“Or better yet, they can simply vote to reopen the government.” It’s the kind of hyperbolic jab that lands like a gut punch in these polarized times, but it cuts to the core of the human cost here.
One air traffic controller from Chicago’s O’Hare, speaking anonymously to reporters outside the Capitol, echoed the sentiment: “We’re not asking for a bonus. Just the money we’ve already earned. My kids don’t understand why Santa’s list is shorter this year.”
On the other side, Democrats fired back with their own olive branch—or what they framed as one.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the floor with a proposal that bundled government reopening with a one-year extension of expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and a bipartisan working group on GOP health care gripes.
It was a slimmed-down echo of a broader Democratic push from a month ago, one that sought to lock in ACA tax credits for good and unwind some Republican-backed Medicaid trims.
“All Republicans have to do is say yes,” Schumer declared, his voice steady but edged with exasperation.
He doubled down on X: “The path forward is simple and achievable: reopen the government, extend the existing ACA tax credits for one year, and begin bipartisan talks on long-term healthcare affordability. The ball is Republicans’ court.”
Hint of Optimism Amid the Gloom
But the overture landed flat. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota swatted it away as a “nonstarter,” insisting his caucus won’t haggle over health care until the lights flicker back on in federal buildings.
Chatting with reporters post-speech, Thune let slip a hint of optimism amid the gloom: “That’s what we’re going to negotiate once the government opens up.”
He paused, then added with a wry smile, “I think the Democrats are feeling the heat.” It’s classic Thune—measured, folksy, but unyielding.
Behind closed doors, sources say moderate Democrats are huddling through the weekend, whispering about a potential compromise that could thread the needle on funding without touching the third rail of Obamacare.
President Donald Trump, never one to let a crisis go to waste, waded in from the White House with a midnight tweetstorm.
“Senators should stay in Washington until they have a deal to end the Democrat shutdown,” he wrote, his all-caps urgency a throwback to his first-term playbook. Trump’s team has ramped up the pressure, leaking memos that tie every canceled flight to Democratic “obstructionism.”
It’s a narrative that’s sticking in red-leaning media, but polls show independents souring on both parties as grocery bills climb and small businesses teeter.
What Caused This?
Zoom out, and this mess traces back to the same old fault lines: a $1.7 trillion spending bill that ballooned into a proxy war over border security, green energy mandates, and yes, those ACA tweaks Republicans have been itching for since the midterms.
The shutdown’s origins feel like ancient history now—October’s debt ceiling drama spilling into November’s lame-duck session—but the fallout is fresh and ferocious.
TSA lines snaking longer than ever. National parks shuttered, rangers furloughed. And in quiet corners of the country, like the Virginia suburbs where federal workers cluster, eviction notices are stacking up.
One veteran air traffic controller, a 25-year FAA hand named Maria Gonzalez, shared her story with local outlets this week.
“I love my job. Keeping planes safe—that’s not just work, it’s a calling. But when the fridge is empty and the bank’s calling, that calling feels like a curse.” Her words hang heavy, a microcosm of the 800,000-plus feds caught in the crossfire.
Advocacy groups like the National Treasury Employees Union are mobilizing, planning rallies at key airports Monday if no deal emerges. “This isn’t politics,” union president Doreen Greenwald said in a statement.
“This is payroll. This is dignity.”
As the Senate reconvenes Saturday morning—Thune’s keeping the lights on through the weekend—the air crackles with possibility and peril. Will the three Democratic defectors hold?
Can Schumer’s team sweeten the pot without alienating their base? And what about those flight cuts—will they force a hand before Black Friday chaos erupts?
For now, essential workers clock in at dawn, unpaid but unbroken.
The question isn’t just when the shutdown ends, but how much more the system can take before it bends. In Washington, where deals are forged in the witching hour, the next 24 hours could rewrite the story—or drag it deeper into the abyss.
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