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Schumer Shutdown: Democrats Block Pay to Use Pain As Political Leverage While Donor Helps Pay Our Troops

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  October 24, 2025 9:30 AM

The other day, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) said the quiet part out loud: Democrats plan to use the suffering of Americans thanks to the Schumer Shutdown as "leverage" to attempt to strong-arm the Republicans into giving them $1.5 trillion in spending for healthcare for illegal immigrants (and a slew of other woke pet projects).

And it appears Clark meant what she said, as Senate Democrats blocked a bill that would have provided pay to some federal workers while the Democrats drag out the Schumer Shutdown. The bill was put forth by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

Here's more from ABC News:

The Senate on Thursday failed to advance Sen. Ron Johnson's bill that would have provided pay to some federal workers during the shutdown.

The "Shutdown Fairness Act" -- put forward by Johnson -- failed by a vote of 55-45. It would have needed 60 votes to advance. 

Democratic Sens. John Fetterman, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock voted with all Republicans to advance the bill. All other Democrats voted against it, effectively blocking it from advancing. 

While the bill would not have ended the shutdown, it would allow some federal employees to get paid.

"To see that they get their paycheck, so they don't have to work Door Dash, so they don't have to go to food banks, so they're not under that stress — I am asking in good faith, let's figure out how to get that done," Johnson said. 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) took time out of his busy schedule of drinking margaritas with illegal immigrants and said Democrats objected to the bill because it would "weaponize" the government shutdown. "Our belief is that no federal employee, no one should bear the burden or be punished for a shutdown they have nothing to do with. So our view is that we want to make sure everybody gets paid at the end of the day," Van Hollen said.

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So instead of having some federal workers get paid, Van Hollen and his fellow Democrats do what Democrats to best: they make sure everyone suffers.

Thankfully, an anonymous donor is stepping up and paying $130 million so the men and women of our armed forces don't miss a paycheck.

"Today he sent us a check for $130 million," the President said. "He doesn't really want the recognition, if you want to know the truth."

"That's going to go to the military," the President added.

This, of course, is never good enough. Leftist complained about the move, including Adam Kinzinger, who said it wasn't enough.

President Trump issued an order two weeks ago that would keep paying our military men and women, despite Democrats' objections. He clearly said this $130 million would help with any shortfalls in that pay, not that it would cover all military salaries.

Others felt like this was a bribe.

Gee, that sounds familiar, no? Hakeem Jeffries threatened to investigate donors who contributed to President Trump's White House ballroom project, accusing them of "pay for play" and crimes, without one iota of evidence. Will the Democrats investigate this donor too?

The Schumer Shutdown is caused by the Democrats' unwillingness to pass a clean Continuing Resolution — something they've done a dozen times before — because they fear their radical base and demand trillions in spending for illegal immigrants and other projects that don't put America first.

And it seems they have no plan to end the Schumer Shutdown any time soon, because they enjoy turning American's suffering into political leverage.