With Trump threats on back pay, another blow to public servants

WASHINGTON— Sidelined by political appointees, targeted for deep state conspiracies, and ridiculed by the president, career public servants have adjusted to life in Washington under a constant state of attack.

But President Trump’s latest threat withhold repayment This is adding new uncertainty to the beleaguered workforce as workers are furloughed due to the ongoing government shutdown.

Whether federal workers will ultimately receive retroactive paychecks after the government reopens “it really depends on who you’re talking about,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. The law requires federal employees to receive their expected compensation in the event of a shutdown.

“We’re going to mostly take care of our people,” the president said, adding: “There are some people who really don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’re going to take care of them in a different way.”

That’s another danger facing public officials who could also be targets of a terrorist attack, according to Russ Vought, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget. mass layoffs If the shutdown continues.

The government has been closed since Oct. 1, when Republican and Democratic lawmakers debated whether to extend government funding at current levels or factor in a significant increase in health premiums that millions of Americans will face early next year.

On the one hand, White House officials say Democrats are responsible for extending the shutdown, leaving the administration with no choice but to lay off agency employees working on “non-essential” projects. On the other hand, the president described the moment as an opportunity to root out Democrats working in career roles across the federal system.

Legal scholars and public policy experts have completely dismissed Trump’s latest efforts to both use the shutdown as a justification for reducing the workforce and not pay back wages as patently illegal.

Democrats in Congress, who continue to vote against reopening the government, also trust they are right and hope the courts will reject the administration’s moves as they try to secure an extension of health tax credits in shutdown negotiations.

If experts are wrong, thousands of government workers could face a huge price tag.

“Senior leaders in the Trump administration have promised to traumatize federal employees, and they certainly seem determined to keep that promise,” said Don Moynihan, a professor at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy.

“According to the law signed by Trump himself, furloughed employees have the right to receive retroactive pay,” Moynihan said. “There is no real ambiguity on this issue, and the idea that only some employees at institutions Trump loves will receive back pay is an illegal abuse of presidential power.”

A day after the shutdown began, Trump wrote on social media that he planned to meet with Vought, “The fame of Project 2025” to discuss what he called an “unprecedented opportunity” to make “permanent” cuts to agencies amid ongoing funding cuts.

A lawsuit filed against Vought and OMB by a coalition of labor unions representing more than 2 million federal workers in California refutes the premise of that claim, arguing that the government “departed from historic practices and violated applicable law” by using government workers “as pawns in congressional negotiations.” But it’s unclear whether the courts will be able to stop this effort.

Sen. John Thune, the Senate majority leader and a Republican from South Dakota, said last week that Democrats should have known the risk they faced by “shutdowning the government and handing the keys to Russ Vought.”

“We can’t control what he does,” he told Politico.

The White House has sent mixed messages about its willingness to negotiate with Democrats since the shutdown began. Earlier this week, the president’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters there was nothing to negotiate before Trump said dialogue had begun with Democratic leaders about a possible deal on health care.

Donald Kettl, professor emeritus and former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, has taught and trained potential public officials for 45 years.

“What happened is extremely discouraging for young students seeking careers in federal civil service,” he said. “Most students go to state and local governments, nonprofits, and think tanks, but they increasingly do not view the federal government as a place where they can make a difference or build a career.”

“We all depend on the government, and the government depends on a pipeline of skilled workers,” Kettl added. “The Administration’s efforts have blown up the pipeline, and the costs will continue for years, possibly decades.”