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In almost any other government shutdown, Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both of Virginia, would probably top the list of Democrats most likely to try to find a quick off ramp.
They represent the state with the second-highest concentration of federal employees in the nation. Both have historically been eager to join the so-called bipartisan gangs of senators who try to negotiate their way through partisan gridlock.
Instead, the two have appeared remarkably dug in, even as President Trump and his top lieutenants have threatened to use the shutdown to drastically accelerate their campaign to reduce the size of the government. They say they are channeling federal workers who are furious at the White House’s ongoing assault on the bureaucracy and are urging their representatives in Congress to keep up the fight.
“I’ve heard that sentiment more loudly than I thought, because in Virginia, we have an awful lot at stake,” Mr. Kaine said in a recent interview. “We suffer more in a shutdown scenario than anybody else. But I think they feel like, ‘You’re threatening to hurt us. You’ve been hurting us since Jan. 20.’ In some ways, it’s kind of not a credible threat, because you’ll do it anyway, whatever happens.”
The dynamic has fueled Democrats’ resolve not to back down as the shutdown impasse drags into its second week. Democrats representing large populations of federal workers have for months heard from livid employees about the Department of Government Efficiency emails they received asking them to provide a list of accomplishments; the chaos and upheaval at their agencies; and the fears of retaliation.
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Mr. Trump has stepped up the threats in recent days, saying that he would deny furloughed workers back pay earned during the shutdown, and promising that he would seize the opportunity to slash programs and projects Democrats care about.
So far that has only fueled Democrats’ outrage, strengthening their determination to continue demanding health care concessions as a condition of any deal to fund the government. But that determination will be tested in the days ahead.
Russell T. Vought, the White House budget director, announced on Friday that the administration was beginning another round of federal worker layoffs, fulfilling Mr. Trump’s threats. And many federal employees, including military personnel, are set to miss their first paycheck next week.
“To their credit, the White House has now for 10 days laid off doing anything in hopes that enough Senate Democrats would come to their senses and do the right thing and fund the government,” Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, said at a news conference on Friday, minutes before Mr. Vought’s announcement. “But now where we’re getting to is where people are going to start missing paychecks. This gets real.”
Democrats on Friday gave few indications that they would be swayed.
“This latest round of federal firings is not an unfortunate byproduct of the government shutdown, but a deliberate choice,” Mr. Warner wrote on social media. “Republicans are intentionally holding federal workers hostage to force through their agenda driving up health care costs for millions.”
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Representative Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat who represents the Northern Virginia suburbs, home to one of the largest concentrations of federal workers in the country, said that the move would “make it harder to get the bipartisan deal that is needed to end this shutdown.”
“President Trump and Russ Vought have been firing federal workers by the thousands continuously since the beginning of the DOGE disaster, and as numerous Republicans have admitted, they plainly hoped to use the pretext of a shutdown to fire even more American workers,” Mr. Beyer said.
In the hours before the government shut down late last month, the White House had threatened to maximize the pain of a funding lapse in an attempt to pressure Democrats into caving and accepting a short-term deal.
Federal workers at the time were largely unfazed, Democratic senators said.
“I don’t think they’re moved by the president’s threats,” said Senator Adam B. Schiff of California, who represents roughly 8 percent of all federal workers. “If anything, I think it hardens the resolve to stand up to him.”
Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey said that he sat down last week with federal workers in New Jersey.
“I heard about their anxieties and fears, but I also heard from them that some things are worth fighting for,” Mr. Kim said.
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And while Republicans have sought to pin the blame on Democrats for the furloughs and the soon-to-be-missed paychecks for U.S. troops, it is not yet clear whether voters will agree. During shutdowns, the majority party in Congress is typically reluctant to pass piecemeal legislation to fund popular portions of the federal government, such as the troops, fearing that doing so could relieve pressure on the other party to cut a deal to reopen.
When Speaker Mike Johnson took live questions from C-SPAN viewers on Thursday, a woman who identified herself as a Republican military wife called in and chastised the Louisiana Republican for keeping the House out of session and not passing legislation that would ensure that troops get paid during the shutdown.
“You have the power to do that,” the caller, identified as Samantha from Fort Belvoir, Va., said, noting that Mr. Trump had backed such a measure. “And as a Republican, I’m very disappointed in my party, and I’m very disappointed in you, because you do have the power to call the House back.”
She said that her family was living “paycheck to paycheck,” and that any lapse would threaten their ability to pay for their children’s medications and medical bills.
“You could stop this, and you could be the one that could say the military is getting paid,” she told the speaker. “And I think that it is awful, and the audacity of someone who makes six figures a year to do this to military families is insane.”
Catie Edmondson covers Congress for The Times.
