‘Extreme frustration’ from Alabama’s senators mounts as shutdown drags on

WASHINGTON — The government shutdown is now the second-longest in U.S. history, and Alabama’s two Republican senators are becoming more exasperated with the gridlock each day as federal workers are set to miss their paychecks Friday.

On Thursday, Senate Republicans changed course and put a bill on the floor to pay troops and federal workers who have been required to work during the shutdown. But with only three Democrats supporting it, it failed to reach the 60-vote threshold.

“They’re protecting our safety and security, they’re writing Social Security checks,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, sponsor of the GOP bill, said on the Senate floor. “(We need) to see that they get their paycheck so they don’t have to work DoorDash, so they don’t have to go to food banks, so they’re not under that stres