The Swamp has gotten away with a lot for decades. But their reign of terror is crumbling down.
And now alarm bells are ringing in D.C. after Donald Trump started cleaning house.
OMB Memo Questions Back Pay for Furloughed Workers
A draft memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget suggests that furloughed federal employees may not receive back pay for time missed during the ongoing government shutdown, citing a potential misinterpretation of the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act. The 2019 law, signed by President Trump during the previous shutdown, aims to ensure compensation once funding resumes.
The memo focuses on the provision that back pay is “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.” The full text states: “Each employee of the United States Government or of a District of Columbia public employer furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations, and each excepted employee who is required to perform work during a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for such work, at the employee’s standard rate of pay, at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates.”
Prior to GEFTA, back pay required separate congressional approval after each shutdown, creating uncertainty despite consistent passage. Axios first reported the memo, which The Washington Times confirmed.
Trump Reassures Workers Amid Shutdown Pressures
President Trump, who enacted GEFTA to protect federal employees, addressed compensation concerns during the shutdown he has attributed to Democratic resistance. When asked about back pay, Mr. Trump said it would depend “on who you’re talking about.” “For the most part, we’re going to take care of our people. 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,” he said.
The administration maintains that non-furloughed essential workers remain entitled to retroactive pay. Last weekend at a U.S. Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, Mr. Trump assured service members: “I want you to know that despite the current Democrat-induced shutdown, we will get our service members every last penny.” “Do not worry about it. It’s all coming. It’s coming and even more.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., noted past back pay provisions but referenced “new legal analysis” on GEFTA.
“If that is true, that should turn up the urgency and the necessity of the Democrats to do the right thing here,” he said. Johnson added, “I hope the furloughed workers receive back pay. Of course, we have some extraordinary Americans who serve the federal government.” “They serve valiantly, and they work hard, and they serve in these various agencies, doing really important work. I can tell you, the president believes that as well.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Monday of potential layoffs if the shutdown persists: “We don’t want to see people laid off. But unfortunately, if this shutdown continues, layoffs are going to be an unfortunate consequence of that.”
Union, Democratic Pushback on Memo Interpretation
The American Federation of Government Employees, representing 820,000 federal workers, criticized the memo as “an obvious misinterpretation of the law.” AFGE President Everett Kelly highlighted conflicting recent OMB guidance on its website: “It is also inconsistent with the Trump administration’s own guidance from mere days ago, which clearly and correctly states that furloughed employees will receive retroactive pay for the time they were out of work as quickly as possible once the shutdown is over.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused the president of “torturing” federal employees with firings and threats since taking office. “The law is clear: every single furloughed federal employee is entitled to back pay,” he said. “We will make sure that law is followed.”
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, described the memo as a “baseless attempt to try and scare & intimidate workers by an administration run by crooks and cowards.” “The letter of the law is as plain as can be – federal workers, including furloughed workers, are entitled to their backpay following a shutdown,” she wrote on X.
Roughly 750,000 federal workers are furloughed, per Congressional Budget Office data, while others work without pay. Most will see reduced paychecks this week for pre-shutdown days; active-duty military pay is due October 15. It remains unclear if the draft memo will advance, with labor unions poised for legal challenges.
