Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined a band of Democrats in signing a Wednesday letter sent to White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought urging him to provide back pay to workers furloughed during the government shutdown.
The letter, signed by dozens of Democrats and Murkowski, cites the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, which President Trump signed into law, to ensure that federal employees will eventually receive wages in spite of a government shutdown.
“The law is clear: all impacted government employees, regardless of excepted or furloughed status, are entitled to back pay after a government shutdown ends, which is consistent with the guidance currently provided by federal agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management (OPM),” according to the letter signed by Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Angela Alsobrooks (Md.) and Mark Warner (Va.).
“OPM’s shutdown guidance from September 2025 still states that furloughed federal workers will be provided back pay once the government reopens,” it adds.
An OMB memo released earlier this month challenges their argument, pointing to an amended version of the law, which states that furloughed workers will receive back pay “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.”
Guidance provided by the IRS amid the current shutdown originally stated furloughed workers would still receive back pay, but that was eventually walked back by the agency.
Lawmakers said Wednesday the uncertainty surrounding back pay is causing “unnecessary stress” for 2.2 million federal employees.
“Thus, we request you immediately clarify and update the Frequently Asked Questions During a Lapse in Appropriations Document and other relevant materials to affirm that furloughed employees will receive back pay, as is required by law,” the signatories wrote to Vought.
Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the Trump administration is under no legal obligation to compensate furloughed workers for days lost to the shutdown.
“I’m sure there will be a lot of discussion about [withholding back pay]. But there are legal analysts who think that that is not something that government should do,” Johnson told reporters in the Capitol.
“If that is true, that should turn up the urgency and the necessity of the Democrats doing the right thing here,” he added.
Days later, Murkowski said Vought has undertaken “punitive actions” toward the federal workforce with unexpected layoffs during the shutdown that “jeopardize agency missions.”
Now, she’s urging Vought to reverse course on his refusal to provide back pay in an effort to curtail further damage.
Additional signees on the Wednesday letter included Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Andy Kim (N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Alex Padilla (Calif.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Raphael Warnock (Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Peter Welch (Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.).
It was also signed by Sens. Angus King (I-Maine) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who both caucus with Democrats, and was co-signed by 132 Democratic House members.
