Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen is standing by his party’s decision to keep the federal government closed, even as hundreds of thousands of federal workers go without pay. He claimed that many of those same workers actually support the shutdown because they don’t want to give President Donald Trump a win.

Van Hollen made the comments in an interview, saying that even though workers are struggling, they believe Democrats should hold the line against Trump’s policies. His remarks come as the shutdown stretches into its fifth week, creating uncertainty for nearly 800,000 government employees.

“I think they all would like to see the shutdown end, but they also don’t like giving Donald Trump a blank check,” Van Hollen said. He added that federal workers have “a mix of views” but insisted that most don’t want Trump to succeed.

He continued, “I mean, he’s been shutting down parts of this government since Day One. I mean, he brought in Elon Musk, right? And they took a chainsaw to different federal agencies, so they’ve been shutting it down piecemeal since Day One.”

When asked whether federal workers’ support for the shutdown was fading as bills pile up, Van Hollen said, “I haven’t seen their support eroding.”

His comments directly contradict the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing federal workers. The union has publicly begged Democrats to reopen the government, saying members are “hurting” and struggling to feed their families.

Despite that, Democrats have refused to support the Republican-backed continuing resolution that would restart government operations. Instead, they are demanding partisan policy riders as part of any deal — even as federal workers turn to food banks and second jobs to survive.

Photos from Washington show volunteers distributing powdered milk, canned goods, and rice to furloughed workers outside the Department of Agriculture as the shutdown drags on. More than 700,000 employees have been forced to stay home or work without pay, including air traffic controllers and veterans’ hospital nurses.

“They’ve been blackmailing federal employees since Day One in this administration, including during the shutdown,” Van Hollen told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This is why we’re standing up for them.”

But critics say Democrats are using those same workers as pawns to pressure the White House into caving on spending and border security.

Other top Democrats have joined in the blame game. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, who also represents many federal workers, took aim at Trump after benefits from a major food assistance program expired due to the shutdown.

“I think it’s interesting that the day Americans — the one out of every eight Americans who need food assistance — were getting turned down, the president of the United States was having a Great Gatsby Party,” Warner said.

Meanwhile, industry groups, unions, and local leaders have all urged Democrats to pass a clean funding bill to get paychecks flowing again. So far, party leadership has refused.

As the shutdown continues, tens of thousands of families are missing mortgage payments and skipping medical care. Yet Van Hollen’s words make clear that for some Democrats, political revenge against Trump takes priority over reopening the government.

While the standoff shows no signs of ending soon, one thing is certain — the cost of this shutdown is falling hardest on the very workers Democrats claim to protect.