Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw slammed Democrats on Thursday for using the 800,000 federal workers not receiving pay amid the ongoing shutdown “as pawns,” as the House has already voted on – and failed to pass – two motions to provide them with pay “in real time.”
“This is a very little known fact but it’s very important,” said Rep. Crenshaw in an appearance on "Fox & Friends." “Over the last week, we voted twice on a motion to recommit, which would send an appropriations bill back to committee in order to pay federal workers. Now this is separate from the bipartisan plan to give them backpay. That’s separate. This is two other bills that would actually pay them in real time. This would actually pay them right now.”
“If their priority is really federal workers, and that’s a laudable priority for sure, then let’s actually pay them so that they can’t be used as pawns,” the freshman congressman continued. “If we’re not paying them, then I don’t know what else to say, except the Democrats actually want them as leverage and that’s really not right.”
"Let's pay them right now," Crenshaw added. "Let's pass these kinds of bills."
His remarks came prior to the votes by the Senate on Thursday on two competing bills to end the government shutdown – which were both rejected.
Crenshaw has also criticized the media for its biased coverage, refusing to report the truth on the matter.
The first motion to recommit only got six Democrat votes. The second and latest motion only received the support of 10 Democrats.