GOP senators back Russ Vought's hardball shutdown strategy as standoff intensifies

Senate Republicans are taking a hands-off approach to threats from White House budget chief Russ Vought, arguing that his pressure on Senate Democrats to reopen the government, for now, is warranted.

Away from the gridlock on Capitol Hill, Vought, who is the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has made moves to pressure Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to reopen the government.

Before the shutdown started earlier this month, the OMB released a memo to government agencies instructing mass firings beyond the typical furloughs of nonessential employees during government shutdowns. He has since withheld nearly $30 billion in infrastructure funding to blue states and cities.

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And earlier this week, a memo circulated around the White House that suggested that furloughed employees would not receive back pay when the government reopened — a move that runs counter to a law signed by President Donald Trump in 2019.

"We heard earlier, right at the beginning of the shutdown, that we may see some terminations, some firings within the department," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told Fox News Digital. "We saw a lot of big numbers kind of thrown around, and they haven't materialized, which I think is good, but certainly what it does, it's very unsettling."

The administration’s latest actions come as conversations on a path out of the shutdown have been ongoing. For now, Republicans don’t believe that Vought’s moves are undercutting those talks.

Sen. John Hoeven. R-N.D., told Fox News Digital that Vought was what Vought "thinks probably helps push Democrats to come to the table and open the government back up."

"I mean, that's for him to decide," he said. "What I'm looking to do is to try to talk to enough Democrats, and I hope that between reaching out to them and pressure they get from back home, we can get the government open and back to work on these things."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that the administration was "going to do what they're going to do, and they've got to manage this, and they're going to manage it according to their priorities."

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"I think they're trying to be sensitive to discussions up here that might be productive," Thune said. "But, you know, as of right now, it's like I said before, all this stuff is just kind of window dressing until we fundamentally get down to the issue about, are we going to open up the government or not?

"And I think when all those issues go away, these guys, the things that the White House is talking about doing or hinting that they might do, become unnecessary," he continued.

Senate Democrats are demanding a deal extending expiring Obamacare subsidies, and won’t provide the votes needed to reopen the government unless they get more than a guarantee to tackle the issue.

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Thune and Senate Republicans are adamant that they will negotiate on extending the tax credits, with reforms baked in, only after the government reopens. And so far, as the stalemate has dragged on, neither Vought nor the administration have taken action on their threats of mass firings or back pay.  

"Right now it's fine," Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital. "If he starts taking Draconian sorts of actions, then I think it creates a more difficult scenario for us. It puts us further away from what he wants to get accomplished, too."

Still, Senate Democrats have not taken kindly to his overtures.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., told Fox News Digital that there was "no question" Vought was hurting ongoing talks between the parties.

"Russ Vought is basically acting like a bomb thrower, and bomb throwers are never helpful in negotiations," he said.