House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., vowed Tuesday that Democrats will fight to secure back pay for furloughed federal workers, arguing that the Trump administration has no legal grounds to withhold their compensation.
Axios reported earlier Tuesday that a White House memo said furloughed federal workers weren’t guaranteed compensation during the shutdown.
Additionally, Government Executive reported Tuesday that the Office of Management and Budget quietly updated its shutdown guidance Friday, removing references to a 2019 law that guarantees federal employees receive back pay once a lapse in government funding ends.
"The law is clear: Every single furloughed federal employee is entitled to back pay. Period. Full stop," Jeffries told reporters, The Hill reported. "The law is clear, and we will make sure that that law is followed."
At the center of the dispute is the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (GEFTA), signed by then-President Trump during the record 35-day government shutdown.
The law has been widely understood to guarantee automatic back pay for furloughed federal employees in any future shutdowns. However, a new memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget contends that GEFTA has been misinterpreted — or, as one source described it, "deficient" — because it was amended nine days later, on Jan. 25, 2019.
"It is true that in previous shutdowns, many or most of them have been paid for the time that they were furloughed," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday, according to the report. "But there are some legal analysts who are saying that that may not be appropriate or necessary, in terms of the law requiring that back pay be provided."
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that some furloughed workers would get back pay while others would not.
"For the most part, we're going to take care of our people," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "There are some people that really don't deserve to be taken care of. And we'll take care of them in a different way."
More than 620,000 employees are currently furloughed, according to Government Executive.
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