Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is in Washington overseeing the drama on the partial government shutdown, but his constituents back home are about to get a taste as billboards pop up this week imploring him to bring the episode to a conclusion.
The billboards say prisoners are being compensated for their jailhouse jobs and “eating roast beef and Cornish hens” while federal prison guards are going unpaid.
Back in D.C., meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi heaped pressure on Mr. Trump and Republicans by touring a temporary kitchen set up by chef Jose Andres to feed federal workers who are struggling during the shutdown.
With the TV cameras rolling, she stopped to chat with a pair of volunteers doling out fresh fruit to furloughed employees.
The moves are part of a growing effort to make the personal pain of the month-old shutdown apparent, both to politicians and to voters who may feel immune to the lapse in funding.
“We believe this is a national food emergency, and we will be there for the national federal workers,” Mr. Andres said in a Twitter video, adding: “This is our action to make sure no one will be hungry, Mr. Trump. What are you doing about it?”
Tuesday marked the deadline for the second payroll processing period of the shutdown, meaning that with no solution workers will miss a second paycheck.
In Kentucky, sponsors of the 15 billboards say federal prison guards can’t even afford the commute to work without their paychecks.
“Who is Mitch McConnell actually working for? Is he working for the president of the United States or the law enforcement and citizens of Kentucky?” said Eric Young, president of the American Federation of Government Employees’ Council of Prison Locals.
Democrats’ PR push appears to be working, as polls show more people blaming Mr. Trump and the GOP for the impasse, which focuses on White House demands for border wall funding.
“Democratic leaders are emphasizing the personal impact on people of normal means and saying Trump is a rich businessman who doesn’t care about average folks,” said Darrell West, director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution. “Trump’s strategy is to blame Democrats, but he hasn’t been very empathetic about the plight of workers.”
Some companies are revving up their PR machines to ease the effects of the shutdown, without choosing sides.
Delta Air Lines donated $83,500 to reopen the Martin Luther King Jr. National Park in Atlanta from its namesake’s holiday weekend through Feb. 3, when visitors will flock to the city for the Super Bowl.
Other household names have no qualms about casting blame.
Pop star Lady Gaga stopped midway through a song over the weekend to call out Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in Las Vegas.
“There are people who live paycheck to paycheck and need their money,” she said to cheers, according to videos posted online.
Mr. Trump, a master showman, has made his own pitch by touring the southern border and touting his wall building plans to the American Farm Bureau Federation, who showered him with applause last week.
On Tuesday, he pledged on Twitter not to “cave” and accused Democrats of playing political games. He has recalled workers, piecemeal, to lessen the public-facing pain of the shutdown.
Labor unions have questioned the legality of those moves.
Mr. McConnell, who has staunchly defended Mr. Trump throughout the shutdown, said Tuesday that he has scheduled a Thursday vote on the president’s new immigration plan, which is combined with bills to reopen the shuttered parts of government.
It combines three years of temporary legal status for 1 million immigrants, including “Dreamers,” in exchange for border wall funds.
Mr. McConnell said Democrats who rejected the idea were catering to far-left interests who demanded ideological purity over compromise.
“To refuse even to talk until the government reopens does no favors to the sidelined federal workers and contractors,” he said.
Mr. Young, however, said Mr. McConnell should bring up bills to reopen the government without dealing with the border fight.
He said the prison guard council has worked on criminal justice changes pushed by Mr. Trump and other bipartisan measures, so the billboards that pressure Mr. McConnell shouldn’t be viewed as a partisan slam.
“It’s a simple message,” Mr. Young said. “It’s not anything that denigrates him.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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