Like the shutdown itself, efforts to provide pay for federal workers so far have been stuck in the political crossfire between Republicans and Democrats. And the Senate left for the weekend Thursday, meaning nothing will be resolved until at the earliest next week.

The one potential bright spot: Pay for military personnel is due Friday, and Vice President JD Vance told reporters this week that they will be paid.

But making that policy longer-lasting went nowhere Thursday. An effort by Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., to ensure military pay during the shutdown failed when Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., objected. While he supports paying military personnel, McConnell said, it’s important to open the government and formally approve a broad Pentagon spending plan.

California is home to the largest population of military personnel in the country with more than 160,000 active duty military service members in the state, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Other federal employees, though, didn’t even get a guarantee of any payment. Workers are to be paid retroactively once the shutdown, which Thursday began its fifth week, ends. Many missed full paychecks that were due Oct. 10 and 24. There are more than 150,000 federal civilian employees in the Golden State.

Max Alonzo, national secretary-treasurer for the National Federation of Federal Employees, said in an interview that the union is extremely disappointed that members of Congress haven’t been willing to sit down and negotiate a deal.

“Republicans and Democrats are going to have to come together and make some concessions,” Alonzo said. “This has never been a one-sided deal to get the job done.”

The union’s concerns extend beyond the lack of legislation to pay workers during the shutdown, Alonzo said.

Earlier in the shutdown, the Trump administration threatened to withhold back pay for some federal employees. Alonzo said the threat was “concerning” and would be in violation of a 2019 law President Donald Trump signed that provides government employees back pay after a federal funding lapse is resolved.

Some Republicans and Democrats have been privately discussing ways to end the shutdown, which began Oct. 1.

Democrats see the next few days as crucial, as funding runs out for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and health care premium notices for those using Obamacare-inspired policies go out. They feel that will put pressure on Republicans to end the spending impasse.

“We can provide all the help, provide pay and furlough and back pay for federal workers and fix the health care crisis. And all they have to do is sit down and negotiate with us, and both can happen,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Republicans, though, blame Democrats for the crisis. The House last month passed legislation to fund the government through Nov. 21, but the Senate keeps falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bill.

“It’s the first time in history, in the history of this country, that any party has done that: has had the audacity to shut the government down over a totally clean, nonpartisan funding measure bowing to the demands of their far left base,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Thursday.

Talks are continuing between Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., on a plan to pay employees. But nothing will be decided this week because the House has not held a voting session since Sept. 19 and the Senate left Thursday afternoon.

“They are still ongoing,” said Van Hollen of compromise talks. “The issue right now is we want protections against punishing federal employees…we have not been able to square that circle yet.”

Johnson proposed legislation last week that would allow those working to be paid during the shutdown. The vote to advance the bill fell six votes short of the 60 needed.

California Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla joined 41 other Democrats and Sens. Bernie Sanders, Ind.-Vt., and Angus King, Ind.-Maine, to vote against the bill.

The Shutdown Fairness Act would provide pay to federal employees working during the shutdown, some contractors and military personnel on active duty. This week, Johnson said he would agree to pay furloughed workers.

In a letter sent to senators last week, the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest representative of federal workers, opposed Johnson’s legislation. Instead, the union backed two pieces of legislation spearheaded by Democrats that would pay all employees including federal workers and would put restrictions on the Trump administration.

One bill the union supports would allow service members, federal employees and contractors who have missed any compensation because of the shutdown to be paid for work completed after October 1. The bill would limit how the money could be used, forbidding the administration from spending the funds on anything other than federal pay.

The other bill would provide such pay and prevent the administration from mass firings while the shutdown goes on. Both bills had the support of Schiff and Padilla.

What’s stymied these efforts is politics. Without safeguards, “you are giving them (the administration) a blank check as to who they are going to send home and who they are going to punish by not paying them,” Van Hollen said.

Johnson argued that he comes from the private sector, where things work differently. “When a business is facing bankruptcy, sometimes business owners are forced to do that (firings) to preserve jobs,” he said.

As a result, Johnson said, “I don’t think we should limit the president’s ability…to properly manage the federal government and make the tough decisions.”

Senate leaders have been less inclined to tackle the issue so far.

“This piecemeal approach where you do one off here, one off there to make it seem more politically palatable to somebody or less painful. It’s just the wrong way to do this,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters.

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