Trump administration threatens no back pay for federal workers in
shutdown
[October 08, 2025]
By LISA MASCARO
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration warned on
Tuesday of no guaranteed back pay for federal workers during a
government shutdown, reversing what has been long-standing policy for
some 750,000 furloughed employees, according to a memo being circulated
by the White House.
Trump signed into law after the longest government shutdown in 2019
legislation to ensure federal workers receive back pay during any
federal funding lapse. But in the new memo, his Office of Management and
Budget says back pay must be provided by Congress, if it chooses to do
so, as part of any bill to fund the government.
The move by the Republican administration was widely seen as a
strong-arm tactic — a way to pressure lawmakers to reopen the
government, now in the seventh day of a shutdown.
“There are some people that don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’ll
take care of them in a different way,” Trump said during an event at the
White House.
He said back pay “depends on who we're talking about.” Asked a second
time about backpay for furloughed federal workers given that the
requirement is spelled out in law, Trump said: “I follow the law, and
what the law says is correct.”
Refusing retroactive pay to the workers, some of whom must remain on the
job as essential employees, would be a stark departure from norms and
practices and almost certainly would be met with legal action.
While federal workers — as well as service members of the military —
have often missed paychecks during past shutdowns, they are almost
always reimbursed once the government reopens.
“That should turn up the urgency and the necessity of the Democrats
doing the right thing here,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a press
conference at the Capitol.
Johnson, a lawyer, said he hadn’t fully read the memo but “there are
some legal analysts who are saying” that it may not be necessary or
appropriate to repay the federal workers.
But Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington blasted the Trump
administration as defying the law.
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The Capitol is illuminated at dawn in Washington, Monday, Oct. 6,
2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“Another baseless attempt to try and scare & intimidate workers by
an administration run by crooks and cowards," said Murray, who is
the ranking lawmaker on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “The
letter of the law is as plain as can be — federal workers, including
furloughed workers, are entitled to their backpay following a
shutdown.”
And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, said, “My
assumption is that the furloughed workers will get paid.”
In the memo draft prepared for Trump’s Office of Management and
Budget director Russ Vought, first reported by Axios, the office's
general counsel Mark R. Paoletta lays out a legal rationale for no
back pay for federal workers.
The memo explains that while the Government Employee Fair Treatment
Act of 2019 says workers shall be paid after federal funding is
restored, it argues the action is not self-executing. Instead, the
memo says, repaying the federal workers would have to be part of
subsequent legislation, presumably in the bill to reopen the
government.
The OMB analysis draws on language familiar to budget experts by
suggesting that the 2019 bill created an authorization to pay the
federal workers but not the actual appropriation.
Congress, it says, is able to decide whether it wants to pay the
workers or not.
For now, Congress remains at a standstill, with neither side — nor
the White House — appearing willing to budge. Democrats are fighting
for health care funds to prevent a lapse in federal subsidies that
threaten to send insurance rates skyrocketing. Republicans say the
issue can be dealt with later.
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Associated Press writers Will Weissert, Kevin Freking, Joey
Cappelletti and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
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