Sean Spicer, Donald Trump’s former White House press secretary, called out Republicans’ political response after Democrats blocked a bill that guaranteed pay for troops during the government shutdown.
“Senate Republicans should be embarrassed by how bad they’re messaging this,” Spicer said Friday on an episode of the show he co-hosts, The Morning Meeting. “They should have been out on the steps last night with military members and Border Patrol.”
He told his co-hosts, Mark Halperin and Dan Turrentine, “The idea that they voted and bolted is an embarrassment to the Republican Party.”
Trump’s first White House press secretary further slammed it as “literally the lamest response” he’d ever seen.
The bill, titled the Shutdown Fairness Act of 2025, was sponsored by Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican out of Wisconsin. It failed to secure the 60 votes needed to advance to the House—ending with a 54-45 count.
The legislation would have ensured pay for federal employees “excepted” from the shutdown. Those who would have been included are active-duty service members, air traffic controllers, TSA agents, park rangers, and ICE and Border Patrol officers.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the bill a “ruse,” insisting that it would give Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget and top architect of Project 2025, excessive power.
“We will not give Donald Trump a license to play politics with people’s livelihoods,” Schumer told the Senate on Thursday.
Spicer left the first Trump administration, reportedly after the president appointed Wall Street banker Anthony Scaramucci as communications director. He remained on briefly to help with the transition before officially departing in August 2017.
Spicer went on to host a political talk show on Newsmax and was even a contestant on Season 28 of Dancing with the Stars in 2019. He didn’t secure a win but ended up finishing the televised competition in sixth place.
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