White House Memo Says Furloughed Workers Might Not Get Back Pay

The White House stated in a memo that furloughed federal workers may not be eligible for back pay after the government shutdown, another escalation in its pressure campaign against Senate Democrats.

Axios first reported on the memo, which was later confirmed to POLITICO by administration officials in the White House and Office of Management and Budget. They were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

The memo appears to contravene the 2019 “Government Employee Fair Treatment Act,” signed by President Donald Trump during his first term after a partial shutdown that stretched over 35 days. And it paints a cloudy economic picture for the 750,000 federal workers currently under furlough.

Speaker Mike Johnson, who voted for the 2019 law guaranteeing back pay, told reporters Tuesday that "there will be a lot of discussion about" the White House memo before saying "I hope that the furloughed workers receive back pay."

"There are legal analysts who think that that is not something that government should do," he said. "If that is true, that should turn up the urgency and the necessity of the Democrats doing the right thing here."

With Senate Democrats holding out for an extension on Obamacare subsidies, Trump and allies in the White House are using the threat of further culling the federal workforce to force them to support the GOP’s clean continuing resolution. The White House has also suspended energy and infrastructure funding for states that voted against Trump in the 2024 election, including California, New York and New Jersey.

And though Vice President JD Vance and other administration officials have insisted that Democrats would be at fault for any shutdown-related job cuts, Trump has emphasized the “unprecedented opportunity” to fire workers and slash “Democrat agencies.”

Congressional Democrats, however, said Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought would likely pursue more federal layoffs with or without a government shutdown. And they say the White House will be blamed for the fallout.

“He’s doing it, not Democrats,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday. “And the American people know that.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wa.), the vice chair of the chamber's appropriations committee, said on X Tuesday that "the letter of the law is as plain as can be—federal workers, including furloughed workers, are entitled to their backpay following a shutdown."

The memo appears to contradict guidance from the Office of Personnel Management issued in September, which advises federal employees that "after the lapse in appropriations has ended, employees who were furloughed as the result of the lapse will receive retroactive pay for those furlough periods."

Virginia Democrats, who have criticized federal job cuts from the administration ahead of the state’s off-year November election, were quick to amplify the news Tuesday.

Sen. Tim Kaine pointed out that it was Trump who signed the law guaranteeing federal back pay in the first place.

“The president's team is suggesting that he break his own word and punish people,” he told reporters. “I mean, I hope they'll remember that this was a bill that he signed. He should implement it.”

The memo comes with Virginia Democrats on the defensive, after texts in which attorney general nominee Jay Jones mused about shooting then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert came to the fore last week.

“More bluster and BS from Russ Vought and Donald Trump,” Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) said in a post on X. “The law is clear. Trump signed it. They can’t just invent powers to punish federal workers. End the GOP vacation and stop the illegal threats.”

Other Trump-aligned Republicans, meanwhile, are casting the move as a prudent answer to the financial upheaval caused by a government shutdown. A White House memo previously obtained by POLITICO found the U.S. could lose $15 billion in GDP every week the shutdown continues.

"I think what the president is saying is that at a time when we are $37 billion in debt, Senate Democrats don’t feel many of these jobs are important enough to want to pay them to do it," Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said.

Nick Wu and Leo Shane contributed to this article.