The government shutdown will soon prevent federal workers and members of the military from receiving their paychecks.
The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, has no signs of being resolved soon. The Senate voted down rival measures to reopen the government Thursday, but it will not even be in session again until Tuesday.
The next day — Oct. 15 — more than 1.3 million military personnel will not receive their first post-shutdown paychecks. With their roles considered essential for national security, service members will continue to work without pay amid the shutdown.
President Trump said Thursday his administration is looking at options to pay troops during a shutdown.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has kept the House out of the Capitol, arguing Democrats must move the House GOP funding bill that would open the government to ensure payments to troops and federal workers. He has ruled out bringing back the House to vote on a separate bill during the shutdown.
Federal employees were paid Friday, according to the government payroll calendar on the General Services Administration’s website.
However, workers getting checks will only get money for work done Sept. 21-30. Those checks should cover two weeks of work through Oct. 4, but the shutdown beginning Oct. 1 means no money for October work days will be allocated.
Many of these federal workers are furloughed, meaning they are not working during the shutdown. Others, such as Transportation Security Administration workers, are working without pay.
All federal workers are generally paid once a shutdown ends, whether they are furloughed or working. In fact, Congress after the last shutdown wrote into the law that federal workers be paid once the government opens.
The Trump administration, however, contends it could withhold money from workers after a shutdown. It also began layoffs of workers Friday.
A draft memo from the Office of Management and Budget put forward the argument that furloughed federal workers may not be entitled to back pay during the government shutdown despite the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019.
Signed by Trump during the last government shutdown between December 2018 and January 2019, the law states federal employees on furlough will receive back pay “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.” The administration is citing that line in arguing it could withhold pay.
Trump said some furloughed government employees will not receive back pay and others will.
“I would say it depends on who we’re talking about,” Trump said Thursday at the White House. “I can tell you this, the Democrats have put a lot of people in great risk and jeopardy. But it really depends on who you’re talking about.”
“But for the most part, we’re going to take care of our people,” the president continued. “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.”
