A draft memo from White House budget office counsel arguing there’s no obligation to pay furloughed workers after a government shutdown may have some legal merit in at least one procedural aspect, even critics acknowledge.
To guarantee retroactive pay when the shutdown ends, Congress might need to either amend the current House-passed stopgap funding measure or pass subsequent legislation that includes the fix, according to sources familiar with budget law on both sides of the aisle. Either option could create another headache for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who narrowly muscled the bill through his chamber last month, unless lawmakers are able to quickly pass legislation by unanimous consent.
This view isn’t held universally, however. A Democratic aide said the prevailing legal opinion on that side of the aisle is that a January 2019 law guaranteeing retroactive pay is “unambiguous,” and the only thing that needs to happen is for stopgap funding to be enacted.
