WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump Administration warns on Tuesday that there will be no guaranteed back pay for federal workers government shutdownreversing a long-standing policy that disconnected approximately 750,000 employees, according to a memo circulated by the White House.
Trump signed subsequent legislation Longest government shutdown of 2019 This ensures federal workers will receive a paycheck while federal funding lapses. But in a new memo, his Office of Management and Budget says repayment must be provided by Congress if it chooses to do so as part of a bill to fund the government.
The move by the Republican administration was widely seen as a strong-arm tactic. This is a way to pressure lawmakers to reopen the government. Federal closure.
“There are people who don’t deserve to be taken care of. We will take care of them in a different way,” Trump said at a White House event.
He said back pay “depends on who we’re talking about.”
Refuse to retroactively pay workers. Some of the workers will have to continue working as essential employees, but this will be a stark departure from norms and practices and will almost certainly result in legal action.
Federal workers, like military service members, often missed paychecks during past shutdowns, but are almost always reimbursed once the government reopens.
“That should increase the urgency and the need for Democrats to be doing the right thing here.” House Speaker Mike Johnson At a press conference at the Capitol.
Johnson, the attorney, said he had not read the memo in its entirety, but “there are legal analysts who say it may not be necessary or appropriate to reimburse federal workers.”
But Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington accused the Trump administration of violating the law.
Murray, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, said: “The letter of the law is as plain as can be. Federal workers, including those who have been ejected, are entitled to their back pay after the shutdown.”
In a single-page memo from Trump’s Office of Management and Budget under Russ Vaught, first reported by Axios, the office’s advisers seek to establish a legal basis for no backpay for federal workers.
The memo says the Government Employees Fair Treatment Act of 2019 says workers will be paid after federal funding is restored, but argues the lawsuit is not self-enforcement. Instead, it says paying back federal workers must be part of any legislation to reopen the government.
The OMB analysis builds on language familiar to budget experts by suggesting that the 2019 bill created authorization to pay federal workers rather than actual spending.
Congress says it can decide whether it wants to pay workers.
For now, Congress is at a standstill, and neither side nor the White House seem to be budging. Democrats are fighting for health care funding to prevent expiration of federal aid that threatens to send insurance rates skyrocketing. Republicans say the issue can be addressed later.
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Associated Press writers Weissert, Kevin Freking, Joey Cappelletti and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
