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The White House issued a warning on Tuesday that President Donald Trump might deny back pay to some federal employees who were furloughed during the government shutdown, depending on whether he deemed their service to be “deserving.”
The comments came after questions about a draft White House memo suggesting that the 750,000 employees expected to be furloughed are not automatically guaranteed compensation upon returning to work.
“It depends on who we’re talking about,” Trump said. “I can tell you this: the Democrats have put a lot of people in great risk and jeopardy.”
US media have reported that the memo is part of Trump’s wider effort to pressure Senate Democrats into supporting a Republican resolution to reopen the government.
Nonessential federal agencies began closing last Wednesday after Democrats, seeking an extension of expiring healthcare subsidies, refused to back a temporary funding measure.
During his first term in 2019, Trump signed the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (GEFTA), which stipulated that all federal employees “shall be paid for the period of the lapse.”
However, the new memo argues that under an amended version of GEFTA, the funds for furloughed workers require specific Congressional authorisation and are not automatic.
“For the most part, we’re going to take care of our people,” Trump said during an Oval Office event with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “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.”
The suggestion that back pay could be withheld represents a significant escalation in the standoff, in which Trump has already threatened the jobs of thousands of furloughed workers if Democrats do not compromise. His remarks drew criticism from both parties.
Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy said that federal workers and military personnel have always received back pay and predicted no change this time.
North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis called the message “horrible” for workers “basically hostages” to the shutdown.
Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington criticised the memo, saying it “flies in the face of the plain text of the law,” and added, “Trump doesn’t get to change the rules and rob workers just because he’s worried his shutdown is backfiring. Scaring and intimidating workers won’t work. He is not fooling anyone.”
