Congressional Republican leaders are hopeful that furloughed workers will receive back pay at the conclusion of the government shutdown, responding to news that legal analysts are scrutinizing whether government workers will receive compensation for time off.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) acknowledged that experts may be scrutinizing the 2019 federal law that requires federal employees to receive back pay. The comments come after the distribution of a memo from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget arguing there is a loophole in the law.
Both leaders said this should be an incentive for Senate Democrats to vote for a short-term spending deal to reopen the government, which has been shut down for one week. Democrats and Republicans have been aggressively messaging that the other party is responsible for the shutdown.
Johnson told reporters he’s sure there will be a “lot of discussions” about whether back pay is required for employees, and “if that is true, that should turn up the urgency and the necessity of Democrats doing the right thing here.”
Johnson added that “of course” he hopes furloughed workers receive back pay.
”They serve valiantly, and they work hard, and they serve in these various agencies doing really important work,” he said. “I can tell you the President believes that, as well.”
But when asked later Tuesday afternoon if it’s the White House’s belief that furloughed workers should receive back pay, President Donald Trump said, “it depends on who we’re talking about.”
Thune echoed Johnson, stating that it’s “just that simple: open up the government.”
“At some point, you’re going to have to make some decisions about who gets paid, who doesn’t get paid, which agencies and departments get prioritized,” Thune told reporters. “I mean, I think that’s a fairly standard practice in the event of a government shutdown. Now, hopefully that doesn’t affect back pay.”
The memo from OMB is a change in position for the agency, which put out guidance on Sept. 30, noting that under the law, all federal workers are “entitled” to back pay when the shutdown ends. The Office of Personnel Management also had similar guidance. But the OMB altered guidance language on Oct. 3, per Government Executive, to remove references to the 2019 law, which was passed as a result of the 2018-2019 shutdown that lasted 35 days under the first Trump administration.
The guidance for furloughed workers receiving pay is still featured on Johnson’s website as of 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
The scrutiny of the backpay law comes as the Trump administration and Republicans are seeking to put more pressure on Democrats to vote for a continuing resolution that would fund the government until Nov. 21. The CR failed on the Senate floor for the fifth time on Monday evening, and Republicans have brushed off Democrats’ calls for negotiations.
The Trump administration is already poised to blame Democrats for as many as 750,000 federal workers being denied retroactive pay — a messaging tactic that would be a blow to the party, which has deemed itself the fighters for federal employees since the administration began mass firings and purging agencies to reduce the size of the government.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responded to the news on Tuesday, as well, stating that the “law is clear.”
“Every single furloughed federal employee is entitled to back pay, period, full stop. The law is clear, and we will make sure that that law is followed,” Jeffries told reporters at his Tuesday press conference.
WHITE HOUSE DEBATES PULLING BACK PAY FROM FURLOUGHED WORKERS
With the shutdown on day seven, Senate Democrats are not indicating they are budging on the GOP’s CR. Jeffries praised the upper chamber’s caucus for continuing to “strongly and boldly hold the line.”
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairwoman Patty Murray said on Tuesday that the law is “as plain as can be” and the OMB’s scrutiny is “another baseless attempt to try and scare & intimidate workers by an administration run by crooks and cowards.”
David Sivak contributed to this report.