A Senate Republican wants to ensure that lawmakers feel the pain in their wallets as the federal government shutdown drags on.

Members of Congress, unlike other federal employees, are guaranteed to get paid during a government shutdown. But Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, wants to impose a tax on lawmakers that would eat away at their paychecks.

Moreno plans to introduce the Stop Holding Up Taxpayers, Deny Wages On Washington’s Negligence (SHUTDOWN) Act, which would create a new tax specifically for lawmakers.

The shutdown has trudged on to a third day with no clear off-ramp in sight. The Senate is again set to vote on the GOP’s short-term funding extension on Friday, but Senate Democrats are again expected to block it.

‘Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries want to get paid for shutting the government down,’ Moreno said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘That’s ridiculous. If Congress can’t do the bare minimum, we don’t deserve a paycheck.’

Members of Congress on average make $174,000 a year. That number can fluctuate depending on whether a lawmaker is in a leadership position. Preventing lawmakers from getting paid during a shutdown is tricky, however, given that the U.S. Constitution requires them to receive a paycheck even if the government is closed.

Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution requires that ‘Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.’

Then there is the 27th Amendment, which was ratified in the 1992, that prevents Congress from passing a law affecting its pay during the current congressional term.

Moreno’s bill could circumvent those guardrails by imposing a daily tax on lawmakers that would rise each day that members are in session and that a shutdown continues.

Meanwhile, the likelihood that the shutdown ends this week is low. Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are firmly rooted in their position that unless a deal is struck on expiring Obamacare tax credits, they’ll continue to block the GOP’s continuing resolution (CR).

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., plans to keep bringing the same bill, which the House passed last week, in a bid to chip away at Senate Democrats. So far, only three members of the Democratic caucus — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, joined Republicans to vote for the bill. 

Recent Russian incursions into NATO airspace have sharpened divisions inside the alliance over how to respond, exposing both the strength and the limits of collective defense.

Secretary General Mark Rutte clashed with Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal last week after Estonia invoked NATO’s Article 4 clause, which triggers consultations when a member feels its security is threatened.

According to three European officials granted anonymity to speak freely, Rutte argued that repeated invocations risked diluting the treaty’s force. One source said he even raised his voice at Michal, warning that NATO must be cautious about how often it signals alarm.

Rutte argued that if Article 4 were invoked every time Russia violated sovereignty — through drone incursions, fighter jets, cyberattacks and more — it would quickly lose impact, according to the officials.  

A NATO spokesperson confirmed Rutte and Michal spoke Friday and said the secretary general ‘has supported Estonia throughout the process.’

Rasmus Ruuda, director of the Government Communication Office of Estonia, told Fox News Digital Rutte ‘expressed support for Estonia and the Prime Minister thanked NATO for its actions.’

‘Article 4 is just a signal that we’re taking note of what happened,’  said Giedrimas Jeglinskas, a Lithuanian member of parliament and former NATO assistant secretary general. ‘We can be invoking Article 4 every week, and I think that only weakens us, because we’re unable to truly respond to that aggression that Russia is sort of throwing at us.’

The tension comes after a series of provocative moves by Moscow. Last month, missile-carrying Russian MiG-29s flew into Estonian territory, following an earlier breach of Polish airspace by 19 drones and repeated incursions over Romania. In Poland, jets scrambled to intercept the drones, shooting some of them down. It marked the first time since World War II that Polish armed forces mobilized to engage an airborne threat over their homeland.

The Russian jets in Estonia were eventually escorted out of its territory by Italian F-35s. Estonia’s Article 4 request followed Poland’s own invocation days earlier, prompting another round of consultations in Brussels.

Since its creation in 1949, Article 4 has been triggered only nine times. NATO’s warning to Russia after the Estonian request was blunt: any further breaches would be met with ‘all means’ of defense. Estonia’s defense minister said his nation was prepared to shoot down Russian planes violating airspace ‘if there is a need.’ 

But Jeglinskas said signaling without consequence risks leaving the alliance trapped.

‘We’re happy to do Article 4 every other day, but so what? What’s next?’ he said. ‘The real question is what happens when the jets actually enter our airspace.’

The debate cuts to a deeper question: what constitutes a ‘need’ to shoot down Russian jets? How can Russia be deterred without stumbling into direct war?

‘The last thing we want is to have NATO get drawn into a war with Russia,’ a senior State Department official told Fox News Digital. ‘God knows how that ends.’

‘Almost all wars … they don’t necessarily start with a big bang,’ the official went on. ‘They start with an escalation, and then somebody feels they need to respond to this, and then you just get in a toxic spiral.’

The United States has promised to defend ‘every inch’ of NATO while pressing Europe to bear more of its own defense burden. Washington’s mixed signals have only complicated matters.

Trump administration officials long favored reducing the U.S. troop presence in Europe. But President Donald Trump recently delivered one of the starkest warnings to Moscow, declaring that NATO states should shoot Russian aircraft down if they incur on their territory.

Jeglinskas said the statement resonated across the Baltic States. ‘What was really helpful was that President Trump was very clear,’ he said. ‘That gives us confidence we’re on the right track, and we really appreciate the support.’

Still, allies remain divided on whether to escalate. Some warn that Eastern Europe cannot credibly threaten retaliation without an American security guarantee. Others argue that deterrence depends on showing Russia its incursions carry a cost.

‘If we really want to send a proper message of deterrence to Russia, we need to be prepared to use kinetic force,’ Jeglinskas said. ‘That means neutralizing those jets — shooting them down or finding other ways to impose consequences — so Russia actually feels the cost of its incursions. That hasn’t happened yet, and it leaves us vulnerable.’

The airspace disputes now extend beyond fighter jets. European Union members are meeting in Copenhagen this week to discuss shoring up air defenses after a wave of drone sightings. Denmark briefly shut down its airspace following mysterious drone activity, while Lithuania’s Vilnius airport and Norway’s Oslo airport also reported disruptions. Drones have even been spotted over Germany’s northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.

‘We are not at war, but we are no longer at peace either. We must do much more for our own security,’ German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Düsseldorf.

NATO jets scrambled to intercept drones over Poland, but the response underscored a growing mismatch: deploying multi-million dollar fighters to counter small, unmanned aircraft is neither efficient nor sustainable.

‘NATO remains the most crucial element of our security equation,’ Jeglinskas said. ‘It’s the backbone through which our security is viewed. There’s really no doubt about NATO’s political will and its capability to defend its territory, but warfare is changing — and the question now is, has NATO adapted to the new way of war that is seeping through the borders of Ukraine?’

Jeglinskas warned that neither NATO nor the Baltic States have done enough. ‘The Polish incursion signified that NATO is not fully ready to counter these threats,’ he said. ‘Scrambling jets is a tremendous economic mismatch. If these kinds of attacks become swarms, it’s not sustainable.’

To address mounting threats, NATO last month launched Operation Eastern Sentry, reinforcing its presence on Europe’s eastern flank. Jeglinskas welcomed the move but said gaps remain.

‘Jets are very important, but more jets don’t mean we’re more secure from low-altitude drones,’ he said. ‘The question is: do we have sensors that can detect what’s happening from the ground up to a kilometer into our airspace? We don’t see that. It’s like a dead space.’

Jeglinskas called for stronger short- and medium-range radar, as well as layered defenses akin to Israel’s Iron Dome, capable of intercepting drones with both kinetic and electronic means.

‘NATO’s response is commendable,’ he said, ‘but it’s not enough. You need technical know-how, the right capabilities, and systems that are truly integrated if you want to make this work.’

For now, NATO remains caught between signaling resolve and acting on it. As Russia continues to test the alliance’s borders, Jeglinskas and other Eastern European officials warn that credibility is at stake. The next incursion, they argue, may demand more than words.

Senate Democrats appear ready for the long haul as the government shutdown continues and are putting the onus of reopening the government on Republicans.

The Senate was out Thursday to observe the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur and is expected to return to action Friday to again vote on the dueling proposals to reopen the government. Though three Democratic caucus members have voted for the GOP’s plan, an end to the shutdown still seems a ways out.

Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have largely unified around the push for expiring Obamacare tax credits that they say must be dealt with now rather than at the end of the year when they are set to end.

Republicans argue that any negotiations for the expiring subsidies can happen once the government reopens.

‘Democrats know we need to reopen the government, and they know that they’re appropriately getting blamed for shutting it down, and we’re going to continue to bring up the continuing resolution,’ Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said. ‘There’s things they want to negotiate, and we can do that once the government is open.’

The White House, particularly Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought, and President Donald Trump have ramped up pressure on Senate Democrats, too, with targeted spending cuts to blue states and threats of mass firings of federal workers.

But Vought’s targeted cuts likely do not help Democrats move closer to supporting the GOP’s continuing resolution (CR).

‘Russ Vought is a menace whether the government is open or closed. He wakes up figuring, ‘What damage can I do today?’ That’s what he does,’ Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said. ‘So, the status of government [being] open or closed, it’s not relevant to Russell Vought. He just goes on his rampage every day.’

Senate Democratic leadership also appears unwilling to cave this early into a shutdown as Republicans plan to continue bringing their short-term extension to the floor. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said that he planned to continue to vote down the GOP’s plan.

‘How long can Republicans explain to the American people that they want to do nothing to help pay for health insurance?,’ he asked.

When asked if he was concerned by Vought targeting projects in blue states, Durbin said, ‘Sadly, it’s a consistent pattern.’

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., charged that Trump didn’t have ‘superpowers during a shutdown’ to fire federal workers and slash additional funding.

‘The news today is that the president is deciding to act illegally and shut down funding for Democratic states and keep money flowing for Republican states,’ Murphy said. ‘This is not a functioning democracy if the president seizes spending power in order to reward his friends and punish his enemies.’

Murphy said Democrats would not ‘get run over’ during the shutdown, and that the government would reopen when the GOP gets ‘serious about talking to Democrats.’

Early negotiations on a path forward materialized on the Senate floor on Wednesday, but no real deal came from those talks. Instead, Republicans and Democrats in the impromptu meeting said that they left with a better understanding of either side’s desires.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., previously voted with Schumer in March to keep the government open. The retiring senator was also one of the nearly dozen lawmakers in a bipartisan huddle on the Senate floor that sparked early negotiations on the expiring credits.

Peters said that it was ‘premature’ to say there was a deal or plan locked in after those talks, but he warned that deeper issues were still at play for congressional Democrats when it came to dealing with the GOP and White House.

‘There are all sorts of trust issues, both in the Senate and the House, so we have to work through all of that,’ he said.

And Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., was one of just three Democratic caucus members who have now voted twice with Republicans on their CR. While she supported reopening the government, she still blamed Republicans for ignoring the Obamacare tax credits.

‘[Republicans] created this crisis … and they need to address it,’ she said. ‘They have no moral standing, no moral standing to stand back and say that this is all on the Democrats. They are in control, they created this crisis. People are suffering.’

When asked if she trusted Republicans in negotiations, Cortez Masto countered, ‘You tell me.’

‘They’re already entrenched in their positions, unfortunately, and not thinking about the American public,’ she said. 

The federal government may have to lay off ‘thousands’ of employees if the government shutdown continues, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Thursday.

Leavitt made the comments during a gaggle with reporters outside the White House, saying administration officials are already gaming out the layoffs.

‘Look, it’s likely going to be in the thousands. It’s a very good question. And that’s something that the Office of Management and Budget and the entire team at the White House here, again, is unfortunately having to work on today,’ Leavitt said.

‘These discussions and these conversations, these meetings would not be happening if the Democrats had voted to keep the government open,’ she added.

Leavitt went on to accuse Democrats of playing politics with the shutdown, arguing there is ‘zero good reason’ for Democrats to obstruct the process.

‘They are doing it for political reasons. They are doing it because they want to give taxpayer-funded health care benefits to illegal aliens, which is something that American people resoundingly rejected ahead of the election last year,’ she said.

President Donald Trump announced earlier Thursday that he is set to meet with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought later Thursday to discuss which agencies ‘are a political SCAM.’

Vought is tasked with recommending which agencies should face cuts and whether those cuts should be temporary or permanent.

‘I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,’ Trump wrote on social media. ‘They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’

The federal government entered a partial shutdown Wednesday after the midnight funding deadline passed, with Democrats and Republicans failing to agree on a funding bill.

Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday accused Democrats of forcing the shutdown over providing illegal immigrants with taxpayer-funded emergency healthcare and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., fearing a primary challenge from progressive ‘Squad’ member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report

Rejecting reports of a split with the brass, the Department of War says the National Defense Strategy was ‘seamlessly coordinated’ with senior civilian and uniform leaders — and that ‘any narrative to the contrary is false.’

On Monday, The Washington Post reported that multiple senior officers had raised concerns about the forthcoming strategy, pointing to a divide between political leadership.

Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg pushed back on Wednesday, in an on-the-record statement to Fox News Digital.

‘The Department’s National Defense Strategy has been seamlessly coordinated with all senior civilian and military leadership with total collaboration — any narrative to the contrary is false,’ Feinberg said.

A senior War Department official said the strategy was the product of ‘extensive and intensive’ collaboration across the department.

The drafting team included a policy lead, a Joint Staff deputy and representatives from the military services who consulted widely with civilian and uniformed offices.

Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby and the acting deputy under-secretary for policy, Austin Dahmer, met with leaders from every group. The official called that level of policy-shop engagement ‘unprecedented.’

Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, who chairs the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provided feedback directly to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Colby, the official said, and both assured him his input would be reflected in the final draft.

The Post report said political appointees in the Pentagon policy office led the drafting and described unusually sharp pushback from some commanders over priorities and tone. 

The War Department disputes that characterization and says the document was coordinated at the principal level and aligned closely with the National Security Strategy.

The pushback comes a day after Hegseth addressed hundreds of commanders at Marine Corps Base Quantico.

In a 45-minute speech, he argued the force needs tougher standards and a tighter focus on warfighting. He has recalled one-star and above officers from around the world to brief in person and has removed several senior general officers as part of a broader overhaul.

Hegseth says new directives will restore rigorous physical, grooming and leadership standards and require combat roles to meet one set of physical benchmarks.

The Washington Post did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.