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WASHINGTON — The Shreveport-Bossier Advocate this week published a news story highlighting the pain the government shutdown is causing federal workers in Louisiana. Louisiana’s Republican Congressional delegation in the House and Senate has collectively voted 13 times since September 19 to keep the government open and checks flowing to federal workers, while the state’s two Democrats voted to shut down critical government services.

“Americans are starting to feel the effects of the government not operating since Oct. 1. Food stamps won’t be available in Louisiana starting Nov. 1, although Gov. Jeff Landry and the Legislature are working to offset that,” The Advocate wrote. “Farmers and small businesses can’t get loans. Flights are being delayed and some canceled. Thousands of Louisiana federal workers won’t receive paychecks.”

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As Democrats and Republicans continue to jockey over the federal government’s shutdown with no end in sight, a key question is how to compensate active-duty military and federal civilian employees who have been required to work without pay for the past three weeks.

Americans are starting to feel the effects of the government not operating since Oct. 1.

Food stamps won’t be available in Louisiana starting Nov. 1, although Gov. Jeff Landry and the Legislature are working to offset that. Farmers and small businesses can’t get loans. Flights are being delayed and some canceled. Thousands of Louisiana federal workers won’t receive paychecks.

In Louisiana, that means 15,235 active-duty military personnel at three major bases won’t get paid at the end of the week, reports the Defense Department. About 1.1 million active-duty service members were stationed at 326 bases across the country in June.

Many of the 19,537 civilian federal workers in Louisiana also didn’t receive paychecks Friday. They include federal law enforcement, park rangers, immigration officials, Transportation Security Administration agents, FEMA responders and air traffic controllers.

And 19,715 National Guard and reserve members in Louisiana receive at least part of their pay from the federal government.

The Senate voted 54-45 not to proceed on Thursday afternoon with a bill that would authorize the federal government to pay “essential” workers who have been on the job during the shutdown, now entering its fourth week. Three Democratic senators joined the Republicans on the pay measure, but 60 votes were needed to advance the legislation.

“This is wrong,” U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, said moments after the vote. “If you can’t bring yourself to cross party lines to ensure our troops get a paycheck, you should reconsider why you ran for Congress.”

Cassidy is a co-sponsor of the Republican bill.

The main sponsor of the legislation, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, told reporters moments after the vote that he would try again.

The bill was the latest Republican strategy to break the stalemate.

But Democratic senators also forwarded a bill that would have paid all federal workers since Oct. 1, when disputes between the parties caused federal spending authority to lapse.

Federal employees who are not required to work were furloughed and will get paid for their time away from the office after the shutdown ends.

The lead sponsors of the two bills said they could work out the differences between whether to pay all employees or just those who have been working during the shutdown. But they could not find accommodation for the difference on whether the Trump administration would be allowed to reduce the federal workforce during the shutdown.

The Democratic measure was sidelined by a procedural maneuver.

Exactly when the paychecks will be skipped depends on the payroll processing system of a particular agency. The first full missed paycheck for some civilian employees was Friday and will be Tuesday or Thursday for others.

The Military Family Advisory Network reported that more than 50,000 military families have reached out for help. The organization recommended that families review options for financial assistance and alerted members that grocery boxes are being shipped this week.

Louisiana has 5,615 active-duty spouses and 10,226 children at Barksdale Air Force Base near Bossier City, Fort James H. Polk & The Joint Readiness Training Center in Vernon Parish and the Belle Chasse Naval Air Station near New Orleans.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, said Thursday the Trump administration has been looking for pots of money and laws that would allow diversion of those funds. For instance, the White House used a 1930s law to allow tariff proceeds to provide funding for a program that helps low-income mothers and mothers-to-be with formula and other essentials for newborns.

The last vote the House made was Sept. 19. After that, Johnson sent members home, saying the House did its job by passing a resolution to continue government operations while finishing up appropriations measures for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1. Senate Democrats have rejected the continuing resolution at least a dozen times.

Johnson says there’s nothing to negotiate with Democrats because the continuing resolution has no partisan language and merely allows government to operate at budget levels established during the Biden administration.

If five more Democratic senators would approve the continuing resolution, then everyone would get paid and money would flow for government services, such as food stamps, Johnson said.

He contends Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, is holding up approval as a sop to a Democratic base that wants to fight President Donald Trump.

Democrats want Republicans to extend tax credits on premiums used by low-income individuals and many small businesses to buy health insurance on the Affordable Care marketplace. Unless the tax credits are extended, those workers will have to pay roughly double for their insurance coverage in 2026.

Democrats say the shutdown gives them leverage that won’t exist when the government reopens, claiming they don’t trust Republicans to then negotiate in good faith.

Democrats point out that Republican leadership, for the most part, have refused to talk with Democratic leadership. They note that GOP congressional majorities have allowed without a murmur the Trump administration to unilaterally negate appropriations that Congress had approved under its constitutional authority to decide spending amounts.

Democrats want Congress to pass an extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits that Trump will sign into law.

Republicans counter that the credits were expanded and set to expire Dec. 31 during the COVID pandemic when Democrats controlled Congress and the White House. While many Republicans don’t oppose the extension, they argue that the high premium prices, which the tax credits help offset, are a result of the Affordable Care Act — and those high costs should be addressed.

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray from Washington state, who is vice chair on the Senate Appropriations committee, said: “President Trump could not be less focused on reopening the government or preventing premiums from exploding. But he is very focused on bailing out Argentina and buying private jets for Secretary (Kristi) Noem, and bulldozing the White House so he can build a fancy new ballroom.”

Trump has indicated that he is willing to negotiate, but not until the federal government reopens. He left Friday night for a trip to Asia.

In the meantime, airports are reporting longer waits to clear security, takeoff delays and canceled flights.

About 13,000 air traffic controllers are working without pay, often six days a week, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. They are worried about paying their mortgages and car notes.

“They have to make choices. And the choices they are making is to take a second job,” Duffy said Thursday. “I don’t want them driving for DoorDash.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said keeping thousands of planes safely taking off, landing and flying is extremely demanding even under the best of circumstances.

“Adding another layer of stress to an already stressful job is really straining the system,” Scalise said. “The American people, especially federal workers, are considered by Democrats to be leveraged, to be pawns in their game.”

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