“Democrats grappled Monday with the first major fraying of their coalition amid the government shutdown, with a federal employee union calling for them to stand down four weeks into the standoff,” Politico reports.

“There was no immediate surrender from party leaders, but the union’s plea forced many Democratic lawmakers into a defensive crouch. Their No. 2 Senate leader said it would be a subject of internal conversations this week with bipartisan talks all but ground to a halt.”

Said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): “It has a lot of impact. They’ve been our friends.”

NOTUS : Democrats say federal workers don’t want them to cave. Their union says otherwise.

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