House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is clearly growing frustrated as President Donald Trump continues to undercut repeated Democrat-driven attempts to pin the ongoing government shutdown on the White House.
Jeffries told reporters at a Monday press conference that he would not support standalone legislation to pay federal workers and military service members — despite the fact that Democrats have spent the shutdown going from microphone to microphone to blame Republicans for the fact that federal employees were not getting paid — and complained that it was just a political stunt.
WATCH:
🚨WATCH: Jeffries tells @AndiNapier that he does NOT support legislation that the Senate is expected to vote on this week to pay federal employees and service members calling, it a “political ploy.” pic.twitter.com/y0D9eQZhuE
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 20, 2025
“It appears to be more like a political ploy giving Donald Trump discretion over which employees should be compensated and which employees should not be compensated. All employees should be compensated, and that will happen when we reopen the government,” Jeffries complained.
The Senate bill in question would ensure that members of the military would not go without their next paychecks — nor would federal workers who have continued to report to work during the shutdown — which would undercut Democrat complaints about the broad impact of the shutdown, and not for the first time.
Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to DailyWire.com/Subscribe to join now.
Democrats began the shutdown with complaints about young mothers and their children who would soon go hungry because their benefits through the Women, Infants, and Children (W.I.C.) program would run out due to the shutdown — but the Trump administration was able to find untapped funds to bridge that gap.
Democrats then pivoted to blame Trump and Republicans for the fact that a shutdown would stop payments to members of the military — but a short time later, Trump redirected funds from the Pentagon to ensure that service members received their pay on the 15th.
