Overview

• OMB General Counsel Mark Paoletta briefed Republican staff on a draft memo asserting GEFTA does not create an automatic entitlement to back pay, referencing 2019 staff emails.
• Nine days after GEFTA’s initial passage, Congress added language stating compensation is “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts,” which OMB now cites to require future legislation for back pay.
• A letter from unions and an advocacy group denounced the administration’s opinion as trickery that invents ambiguity, arguing the statute mandates payment to furloughed employees.
• Legal experts publicly criticized the new stance as conflicting with the law, intensifying pressure during a shutdown that has sidelined or unpaid an estimated 750,000 federal workers since Oct. 1.
• A senior White House official said the administration stands by OMB’s view, and Trump said some workers “don’t deserve to be taken care of,” according to the reporting.