Reporter's Notebook: White House pounces after top Dem says government shutdown gives party 'leverage'

Senate Republicans are forcing Democrats to take a stand today — vote to pay expected federal workers (so-called essential) during the shutdown or risk looking anti-worker. 

The bill, from Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Todd Young, R-Ind., would pay troops, on-duty TSA agents, air traffic controllers and law enforcement. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., says it’s a "political ploy" to let Trump "pick and choose" who gets paid. 

WHITE HOUSE MAY 'RUN OUT' OF FUNDS TO PAY MILITARY IF SHUTDOWN CONTINUES, JOHNSON WARNS

Sen. Ron Johnson arrives for the Senate committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, April 3, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

House Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., conceded to Fox News in a now-viral clip that there will be "families that are going to suffer" because of the shutdown but added that "it is one of the few leverage times we have." 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pounced, saying Democrats "admitted" to inflicting pain and asking, "What’s wrong with them?" 

Clark fired back, accusing the White House of "spinning the conflict" and inflicting "trauma" by firing workers. 

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However, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., called out his own party on Fox News' "Hannity," saying, "I am a country over party guy... It's wrong to shut our government down."