Essential workers left unpaid after Senate Democrats kill pay bill

Democrats blocked a Republican-led attempt to provide essential government workers with paychecks amid an ongoing, 23-day shutdown, calling the bill overly selective and incomplete.That bill, proposed by Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Todd Young, R-Ind., failed in a 54-45 vote, where 60 votes were needed to advance the bill over the threat of a filibuster.Only three Democrats, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia, voted with Republicans. In addition to compensating federal employees and military personnel during the current shutdown, the bill would also