Senator Ron Johnson (Wis.), the lead Senate Republican negotiator on a bill to pay key federal employees during the shutdown, says he has proposed to Democrats to pay all federal employees — essential and furloughed federal employees — while federal departments and agencies are closed.
Johnson told The Hill he believes Senate GOP leadership supports his proposal, but says the proposal will be discussed in more detail at the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon on Tuesday.
“Are they going to take ‘yes’ for an answer?” Johnson asked whether his Democratic colleagues would accept the latest proposal.
“We are willing to add furloughed employees,” he said, calling it a “big” concession.
“Pay them up front. They’ll get paid anyway,” Johnson said. He said under the Government Employees Fair Treatment Act of 2019, furloughed federal employees are guaranteed back pay for time missed at work during the shutdown.
“We have to have that vote in the House,” he said. “Get this all approved by the White House and our leadership.”
He said Republican senators would discuss it in more detail on Tuesday afternoon.
“Hopefully that will be the case at the conference and we will start voting on this topic,” he said.
Johnson emphasized that the bill he is proposing “will not increase or diminish the authority of the President in matters of managing the workforce.”
In other words, it would not prevent President Trump from laying off federal employees or restructuring the federal workforce.
Johnson said there is no way Trump would sign a bill that curtails his authority, and noted that courts are currently considering legal challenges to Trump’s power to fire federal employees.
Asked whether Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-D) and other members of the Senate GOP leadership have accepted his proposal, Johnson told The Hill: “I believe so.”
But he cautioned that “we have to learn the real language and make sure the White House doesn’t have a problem with it – I don’t think they will have a problem.”
Democrats blocked Johnson last week Shutdown Fairness ActWhich would pay only essential workers, including military service members and air traffic controllers, during the shutdown.
It failed on a vote of 54-45, but three Democrats voted for it: Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Jon Ossoff (Ga.) and Raphael Warnock (Ga.). Ossoff is a top GOP political target in the 2026 midterm elections.
Johnson’s concession to Democrats represents a significant step up from his position last week, when he objected to two Democratic requests for unanimous consent to approve legislation to pay all federal workers during the period of the shutdown, along with those who have missed payments so far.
He is in talks with Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD), the lead Democratic sponsor of one of those competing proposals.
Johnson last week rejected Van Hollen’s True Shutdown Fairness Act, saying the legislation was too complex to be approved by unanimous consent.
Van Hollen argued in the Senate last week that federal workers should not suffer because of the impasse on Capitol Hill over a House-passed resolution to fund the federal government through Nov. 21.
The Maryland Democrat said, “We should not punish federal employees for something they had nothing to do with. They are not responsible. They are innocent bystanders.”
A large group of Democrats co-sponsored Van Hollen’s bill, including Senators Gary Peters (Mich.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Mark Warner (Va.), Angela Alsobrooks (Md.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.). Are.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), an independent who works closely with Democrats, also co-sponsored it.
Johnson now says he’s asking Van Hollen to follow up on his comments by fully funding the federal workforce.
He said, “Van Hollen says we shouldn’t punish them for their laxity. Then vote for the bill.”
The main difference between negotiators is language included in Van Hollen’s bill that would prevent the Trump administration from attempting to lay off thousands of workers through force reductions during the shutdown.
Van Hollen confirmed Monday that he was in talks over the weekend but declined to comment in detail on the substance of the competing proposals.
Everett Kelly, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal employees, issued a statement on Monday urging Congress that Democrats would be under intense pressure to accept Johnson’s proposal. passing a clean continuing resolution To end the shutdown.
The union represents 820,000 federal and D.C. government employees.
According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, federal employees last received a partial pay check on October 10, October 14 or October 16.
