White House Floats No Back Pay For Some Furloughed Federal Workers Despite 2019 Law - Beritaja

President Donald Trump said to reporters successful the Oval agency connected Tuesday during a gathering pinch Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America

President Trump is floating the anticipation that immoderate of the about 600,000 furloughed national workers could beryllium denied backmost salary erstwhile the authorities reopens, contempt a 2019 rule intended to guarantee national labor are compensated aft a shutdown.

Speaking successful the oval agency connected Tuesday, Trump appeared to publically backmost a draught White House memo that includes an statement for denying workers pay.

"I would opportunity it depends connected who we're talking about," Trump said. "I could show you this, the Democrats person put a batch of group successful awesome consequence and jeopardy, but it really depends connected who you're talking about. But for the about part, we're going to return attraction of our people. There are immoderate group that really don't merit to beryllium taken attraction of, and we will return attraction of them successful a different way."

When pressed connected the legality of specified a move, Trump said,  "What the rule says is correct and I travel the law."

Trump was responding to questions about a draught memo from the Office of Management and Budget, which was first reported by Axios and confirmed by a elder White House charismatic not authorized to talk the memo which has not been publically circulated.

The conflict complete national worker salary is the latest salvo successful the Trump administration's efforts to unit Democrats to ballot for a cleanable continuing solution and driblet their demands to widen wellness attraction subsidies for millions of Americans.

The memo's ineligible statement contradicts guidance issued by the Office of Personnel Management and the wording of a 2019 law signed by President Trump during his first word that explicitly guarantees national workers "shall beryllium paid" erstwhile a shutdown ends, whether they were furloughed aliases continued working.

The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, a bipartisan rule enacted aft the grounds 35-day shutdown successful 2018, added connection to the Antideficiency Act that automatically applied backmost salary to national labor for "any lapse successful appropriations that originates connected aliases aft December 22, 2018."

Previously, Congress had to o.k. retroactive backing aft a shutdown pinch caller legislation.

The White House memo notes a clause successful the matter that says workers shall beryllium paid "at the earliest day imaginable aft the lapse successful appropriations ends, sloppy of scheduled salary dates, and taxable to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse" and argues that intends Congressional action is required to enact backmost pay.

Guidance published by the Office of Management and Budget connected Sept. 30 did see a reference to the law's automatic restoration of pay.

"The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (Public Law 116-1) provides that upon enactment of appropriations to extremity a lapse, some furloughed and excepted labor will beryllium paid retroactively arsenic soon arsenic imaginable aft the lapse ends, sloppy of scheduled salary dates," the Sept. 30 memo reads. "Additional guidance for agencies connected implementing Public Law 116-1 and curen of salary and time off is disposable from OPM."

A type updated connected Oct. 3 removes that paragraph.

The draught memo is the latest successful a multi-pronged unit run from the White House seeking to punish Democrats during the shutdown, including efforts to cancel assistance backing for power projects and clasp up proscription backing successful states that did not ballot for Trump successful 2024. The management has besides threatened wide reduction-in-force efforts astatine national agencies which person truthful acold not materialized.

Deepa Shivaram contributed to this report.