Scoop: White House memo says furloughed federal workers aren't entitled to backpay

"But the new White House memo from the Office of Management and Budget argues that GEFTA has been misconstrued or, in the words of one source, is "deficient" because it was amended nine days later, on Jan. 25, 2019. "Does this law cover all these furloughed employees automatically? The conventional wisdom is: Yes, it does. Our view is: No, it doesn't," a senior White House official said."

"To the White House, that means money for those workers needs to be specifically appropriated by Congress. The joint resolution containing that amendment to the law specified that the U.S. government would pay "obligations incurred" during that 2019 shutdown. "If it [GEFTA] was self-executing" in future shutdowns, "why did Congress do that? It's precedent," the White House official said, calling any other interpretation "ridiculous.""

President Trump urged Democrats to back a continuing resolution to fund the government without healthcare-subsidy conditions. The Office of Management and Budget issued a memo asserting that the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (GEFTA) was amended shortly after enactment and should not be read to automatically guarantee pay for furloughed employees in future shutdowns. The amendment states compensation is "subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse," which the White House interprets as requiring specific congressional appropriations. The 2019 joint resolution paid "obligations incurred" then, which the White House cites as precedent. Advocates for federal workers dispute the White House interpretation.

Read at Axios