Washington — Washington (AFP) – President Donald Trump The US administration warned on Tuesday that federal workers will not be guaranteed back wages during the period Government shutdowna reversal of long-standing policy for about 750,000 employees, according to a memo distributed by the White House.
Trump has yet to sign the law Longest government shutdown in 2019 Legislation to ensure federal workers receive back wages during any interruption in federal funding. But in the new memo, the Office of Management and Budget says the back pay must be provided by Congress, if it chooses to do so, as part of any bill to fund the government.
The move by the Republican administration was widely seen as a strong tactic to pressure lawmakers to reopen the government, which is now in the seventh day of elections. Closing.
“There are some people who don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’re going to take care of them differently,” Trump said during an event at the White House.
Late payment “depends on who we’re talking about,” he said. When asked for a second time about back pay for furloughed federal employees given that this requirement is stipulated in the law, Trump said: “I follow the law, and what the law says is right.”
Refusing to retroactively pay workers, some of whom must remain on the job as essential employees, would be a stark departure from norms and practice, and would almost certainly be met with legal action.
While federal workers — as well as military service members — have often lost pay during previous shutdowns, they are almost always compensated once the government reopens.
“This should increase the urgency and urgency of Democrats doing the right thing here.” House Speaker Mike Johnson He said at a press conference in the Capitol.
Johnson, an attorney, said he had not read the entire memo but that “there are some legal analysts who say” it may not be necessary or appropriate to pay federal workers.
But Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington criticized the Trump administration as defying the law.
“Another baseless attempt at intimidation & “Intimidation of workers by an administration run by crooks and cowards,” said Murray, a senior lawmaker on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “The letter of the law is as clear as can be — federal workers, including furloughed workers, are entitled to back pay after the shutdown.”
“My assumption is that furloughed workers will get paid,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican.
In a draft memo prepared for Trump’s Office of Management and Budget director, Ross Vought, and first reported by Axios, the office’s general counsel Mark R. Paoletta lays out the legal rationale for not paying federal employees.
The memo clarifies that while the Fair Treatment of Public Employees Act of 2019 provides for workers to be paid after federal funding is restored, it says the measure is not self-enforcing. Instead, the memo says, paying federal employees should be part of subsequent legislation, most likely in a government reopening bill.
The Office of Management and Budget’s analysis relies on language familiar to budget experts by noting that the 2019 bill created a mandate to pay federal workers but not an actual appropriation.
She says Congress can decide whether it wants to pay workers or not.
For now, Congress remains deadlocked, and neither side — nor the White House — appears willing to budge. Democrats are fighting for health care money to prevent a decline in federal support that threatens to dramatically raise insurance prices. Republicans say that issue can be dealt with at a later date.
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Associated Press writers Will Weisert, Kevin Freking, Joy Cappelletti and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.