Senate Republicans are looking to turn the heat up on Democrats with a planned vote to pay military members and essential workers, a move they hope will drive a wedge within the minority and lead to an end to the government shutdown.

Although few believe the measure will pass, Republicans hope it exposes further cracks in the Democratic opposition.

“It’s a hard vote for them,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a top ally to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). “If you pay the essential employees, you’re basically opening up a good chunk of the government back up.”

“It should be a no-brainer, right?” Thune quipped to The Hill with a laugh about the upcoming vote.

“This is paying everyone that’s working. I haven’t been able to explain a lot of this, so far, why they would take a position against, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed,” he continued. “It’s a constituency that Democrats have historically been very sympathetic to. This is a whole different approach on their part, with regard to a shutdown. It’s strange to me. I feel like they can’t take ‘yes’ for an answer at the moment. Hopefully on Thursday, they'll take ‘yes.’”

The Senate has voted 11 times on the House GOP measure to fund the government, with a 12th set for Wednesday. There have been no major changes in the vote breakdown, with Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Angus King (I-Maine) largely........

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