Democrats Block Legislation To Pay Troops During Shutdown

Democrats blocked the Senate from considering a defense spending bill on Thursday afternoon that would pay military service members during the shutdown.

Senators voted 50 to 44, with just three Democrats breaking with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to advance a full-year defense appropriations bill. The failed vote comes as Congress is locked in a stalemate to end the 16-day shutdown with Democrats largely refusing to cross party lines and reopen the government.

The defense appropriations bill would fund the Department of War for the upcoming fiscal year and ensure that active-duty troops do not miss a paycheck during the shutdown. The measure also includes a military pay raise.

Military personnel would have gone without pay for the first time in U.S. history on Wednesday if President Donald Trump had not tapped unused Pentagon funding to temporarily cover troop pay.

However, there is no guarantee of future paychecks for military personnel if the shutdown continues into November.

Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire joined Republicans in advancing the defense spending bill that would fund troop pay for the entire fiscal year. The funding measure notably passed out of the Appropriations Committee with near unanimous support in July.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune blasted Democrats for filibustering the measure during a fiery speech on the Senate floor.

“After voting last week for an authorization bill to increase troop pay, Democrats just voted against the bill that would actually pay the troops,” Thune said.

“They’re happy to sacrifice any American and evidently any principle to their political goals,” Thune continued. “Democrats like to position themselves as the party of the little guy and the defender of hard-working Americans, but as this vote makes clear, who do Democrats really care about?”

Republican Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt said Democrats voting down the defense spending bill shows they are “not serious about working on appropriations bills.” He also said it’s a “losing argument with the American people” when Democrats refuse to appropriate funds in an effort to resist Trump.

Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal told the DCNF earlier on Thursday that Congress has an “obligation” to pay the military during the shutdown, but he ultimately voted against the defense appropriations bill.

“We have an obligation, and now an opportunity, to pay our military in a lawful way instead of just moving funds from one account to another, as President Trump is doing,” Blumenthal said.

A majority of Senate Democrats also filibustered a bipartisan funding measure that would end the shutdown for the tenth consecutive time on Thursday morning. Fetterman, Cortez Masto and Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, bucked Schumer to join Republicans in voting to reopen the government.

Thune has continued to force Democrats to vote on a stopgap measure to temporarily fund the government. Schumer has been adamant that Democrats will not supply the votes to pass the measure until Republicans agree to add on unrelated healthcare policy demands to the bill.

The government shutdown is expected to drag on to next week, making the funding lapse one of the longest in American history. The Senate is not expected to reconvene until Monday. Thune has voiced frustration that Democrats have consistently rejected every funding measure put on the floor during the shutdown.

“At some point, reasonable Democrats are going to have to come to the conclusion that this doesn’t benefit anybody,” Thune told MSNBC’s Ali Vitali during an interview that aired Thursday. “I don’t believe government shutdowns benefit anybody, and that used to be a position that was held by the Democrat leadership.”

Andi Shae Napier contributed to this report. 

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