Furloughed federal workers aren’t guaranteed compensation for their forced time off during the government shutdown, according to a draft White House memo described to Axios by three sources.
Why it matters: If the White House acts on that legal analysis, it would dramatically escalate President Trump’s pressure on Senate Democrats to end the week-old shutdown by denying back pay to as many as 750,000 federal workers after the shutdown.
Congress has to pass a budget bill to reopen the government, and the President has to sign it into law. If that bill says that the workers are entitled to back pay, then they are entitled to back pay.