Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said on Tuesday that the president does not get to decide whether furloughed federal workers are entitled to back pay.
“It’s not up to the president,” Kennedy told reporters, when asked at the Capitol about the Trump administration “not necessarily committing to back pay” for the federal workers.
“I mean, his opinion matters, but Congress has got to appropriate the money,” he continued, according to a video posted online by a CBS News reporter. “Read the Constitution.”
Asked about the legality of denying federal workers back pay, Kennedy said, “We’ve always paid back pay to the military and federal workers, and Congress has already, always appropriated the money, and we will this time, in my opinion.”
A draft memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) raised the possibility that furloughed federal workers may not be entitled to back pay from their time off during the government shutdown, Axios first reported.
The draft memo hinges on an aggressive interpretation of the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 — which President Trump signed during the last government shutdown — and argues the law does not automatically guarantee back pay to all furloughed employees.
The memo cites a line in the amended version of the law, which states that furloughed workers will receive back pay “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.”
When asked specifically about the argument in the memo, the Louisiana Republican said, “Well, you need to talk to the White House. I haven’t read the memo.”
