{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-colleagues-introduce-legislation-to-pay-all-federal-employees-servicemembers-and-contractors-during-shutdown", "Van Hollen, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Pay All Federal Employees, Servicemembers, & Contractors During Shutdown", "2025-10-23", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", "vanhollen", "https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) led over 20 Senators in introducing legislation to pay all federal employees \u2013 both those excepted and furloughed \u2013 as well as our servicemembers and federal contractors during the current Republican-led shutdown. The Senators\u2019 legislation, the True Shutdown Fairness Act, would also prevent the Administration\u2019s attempts at mass firings (Reductions in Force or RIFs) while the government is shut down. Senator Van Hollen will be calling for a vote on the legislation today.\n\nThe legislation is cosponsored by Senators Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-N.M.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).\n\nThe Senators\u2019 legislation is endorsed by American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), Partnership for Public Service, and The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).\n\n\u201cNo federal worker or servicemember should be punished for this shutdown that was brought on through no fault of their own. Republicans are hell-bent on letting Trump pick winners and losers here, but every federal worker, servicemember, and federal contractor deserves to get paid. Our legislation would ensure just that, and if Republicans are serious about supporting our federal employees, they will support it. We must keep pressing to reopen the government with a responsible agreement that holds the President accountable to the law, protects federal workers and our servicemembers, and prevents massive spikes in Americans\u2019 health care costs,\u201d said Senator Van Hollen.\n\n\u201cAs we urge our colleagues to come to the table and work on a bipartisan agreement that reopens the government, our servicemembers and federal workers are paying the price,\u201d said Senator Peters. \u201cThis bill would ensure military personnel and civil servants receive the compensation they depend on to support themselves and their families while we continue working toward a bipartisan funding deal.\u201d\n\n\u201cEvery day federal workers are out there keeping us safe, keeping our food supply secure, enforcing our laws, and caring for our veterans. They are the backbone of the services Americans count on. But from the start, this administration has treated the federal workers not as partners in serving the American people, but as adversaries to be traumatized, punished and politicized. Now, Senate Republicans want to give President Trump even more authority to decide which of these workers get paid and which get punished. I\u2019m proud to stand with my colleagues to introduce this bill to make sure every federal employee, and every contractor who works by their side in serving the American people, gets treated with the respect they deserve during this cruel Republican shutdown,\u201d said Senator Warner.\n\n\"Maryland is home to 494,000 patriotic federal workers and federal contractors \u2014 they have spent their lives to serving their fellow Americans \u2014 ensuring our food and water are safe, making sure our parents and grandparents get their Social Security checks, researching cures to cancer. It is our duty to ensure they are paid. We must pass legislation that ensures all federal workers receive the paychecks they earned. These workers cannot be faulted for Republicans shutting down our government. They are not political pawns, they are patriots,\u201d said Senator Alsobrooks.\n\n\u201cSince day one, the Trump Administration has enacted policy after policy to traumatize, politicize, and hollow out the federal workforce that delivers essential services to the American people. Now, Senate Republicans want to give President Trump more power to decide which of these workers get paid, and which get punished. Nothing about that is fair, and I\u2019m proud to stand with my Democratic colleagues in proposing alternative legislation to ensure that America\u2019s entire workforce of dedicated and patriotic federal employees is treated equally,\u201d said Senator Kaine.\n\n\u201cIn New Mexico and across the country, our federal workers, servicemembers, and contractors dedicate their lives to serving the American people. These hardworking Americans should not bear the brunt of the pain Republicans are inflicting through this shutdown. That\u2019s why I\u2019m joining my colleagues to introduce legislation ensuring every federal employee, servicemember, and federal contractor is paid during the ongoing Republican shutdown. This legislation would also block the Trump administration\u2019s attempts to carry out mass firings while the government remains shut down,\u201d said Senator Luj\u00e1n.\n\n\u201cIt defies common sense and anyone\u2019s definition of fairness to say that only certain federal employees should get paid during a shutdown, or that federal employees should be laid off during a shutdown. While the President may insist that he had \u2018no choice\u2019 but to lay off federal workers during the shutdown, let\u2019s be clear: he\u2019s been doing this since day one. We need to do everything we can to end this shutdown and get these folks paid and back to work,\u201d said Senator Welch. \u201cOur legislation pushes back against the President\u2019s lawless rampage and ensures all of our federal workers are paid for doing their jobs.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo federal worker should miss a pay-check because of the Republican shutdown. Our legislation would ensure that any employee, whether exempted or furloughed, would receive the compensation they rightly deserve. But instead of working with Senate Democrats to make government employees whole, Senate Republicans have decided to advance a piece of legislation that would give Donald Trump and Russell Vought control over which federal workers get paid. This isn\u2019t the way to protect our federal employees, and it isn\u2019t the way to re-open the government,\u201d said Durbin.\n\n\u201cAs we work to reopen the government and fight to lower skyrocketing health care costs, federal workers and their families should not have to struggle without pay because of this Republican shutdown. This legislation will restore fairness to federal worker pay, prevent Russ Vought from firing more workers, and ensure families don\u2019t suffer because Trump and his Republican allies want thousands of Delawareans to go to work each morning without collecting a check at night,\u201d said Senator Coons.\n\n\u201cWhile House Republicans are on a paid, monthlong vacation in the middle of a shutdown, federal employees and contractors \u2013 who have bills to pay and families to take care of \u2013 are being forced to go weeks on end without a paycheck. Our bill ensures that federal workers and servicemembers are not punished because of the Republicans\u2019 refusal to show up to work and negotiate an agreement that prevents health care costs from skyrocketing,\u201d said Senator Schatz.\n\n\u201cOur legislation would ensure that every federal employee receives what they deserve, while we continue to work on reopening the government and protecting affordable health care. This legislation holds the Trump Administration accountable and provides federal workers, servicemembers and contractors peace of mind,\" said Senator Blumenthal. \"Our nation\u2019s servicemembers and federal workers should not be collateral damage in this shutdown imposed by President Trump and congressional Republicans. Trump wants to pick and choose who gets paid\u2014an attempt to augment his power and show favor to those who support him. We want fairness for all workers, not just Trump\u2019s personal favorites.\u201d\n\n\u201cDonald Trump has made it his mission to fire thousands of public servants, including more Veterans than any other President in history, and he\u2019s using the shutdown he caused as pretext to fire even more of them\u2014and now Senate Republicans want to give Trump even more power to pick and choose who he thinks deserves a paycheck for their work,\u201d said Senator Duckworth. \u201cThis is despicably cruel. Federal employees, servicemembers and federal contractors should not suffer the consequences of a shutdown they did not cause. Rather than cheer Trump on as he builds his extravagant and unnecessary $300 million ballroom at the White House, Senate Republicans should get back in touch with reality and help us protect workers who have been worried about how they\u2019ll pay rent or put food on the table as the Republican shutdown continues to block their paychecks. It\u2019s the fair and right thing to do.\u201d\n\nBackground on the True Shutdown Fairness Act:\n\nThe True Shutdown Fairness Act would immediately restart pay for all excepted and furloughed federal workers, servicemembers, and federal contractors during the current shutdown. The Senators\u2019 legislation also includes a prohibition on Reductions In Force while the federal government is shut down. Federal employees are ensured retroactive pay after a shutdown ends due to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act \u2013 legislation that Senators Van Hollen, Cardin, Kaine, and Warner worked to pass in 2019 and that was then signed into law by President Trump.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-colleagues-introduce-legislation-to-pay-all-federal-employees-servicemembers-and-contractors-during-shutdown"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.4704691022634506, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}