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Hints furloughed workers won't get back pay

By: Josy Garrison
Bart Jansen
Philip M Bailey
and Zac Anderson
USA Today

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said some furloughed federal workers "don't deserve" to receive back pay once the federal government shutdown is over, which would mark a major departure from previous shutdowns.
..... "It depends on who we've talking about," Trump said October 7 [2025] in the Oval Office in response to a question a reporter. "I can tell you this, the Democrats have put a lot of people in great risk and jeopardy, but it really depends on who you;re talking about."
..... Trump added: "For the most part, we're going to take care of our people. There are some people that really don't deserve to be taken care of, and we'll take care of them in a different way."
..... Trump's remarks come as a new legal analysis from the White House claims the 750,000 employees furloughed during the shutdown are not entities to back pay when they return, an administration official told USA Today. If the administration chooses to deny federal workers their pay, the White House could use the move to apply additional pressure on Democrats in Congress to join Republicans to fund the government.
..... Citing the :new legal analysis," House Speaker Mike Johnson on October 7 [2025] said "if that is true, that should turn up the urgency and the necessity of the Democrats doing the right thing here." He didn't specifically say what legal analysis he was referencing.
..... Johnson stressed he hopes federal workers get back pay, and that Trump has told him he feels the same way.
..... A 2019 law signed by Trump states that federal workers who are furloughed during a lapse in government funding "shall be paid for the period of the lapse." The law sates that it applies to any government funding lapse after December 22, 2018.
..... The U.S. Office of Personnel Management released a memo in September [2025] on shutdown furloughs stating workers would get paid.
..... "after the lapse in appropriations has ended, employees who were required to perform excepted work during the lapse will receive retroactive pay for those work periods," the OPM memo states.
..... Although about 750,000 federal workers have been placed on furloughs during the shutdown, Trump hasn't followed thorough on his warning of mass layoffs across the feral workforce.
..... The White House last week [10/03/2025] said layoffs were "imminent," Russell Vought, the White House director of Management and budget, told Republican lawmakers on October 1 [2025] that reductions in force would begin in "a day or two."
..... But so far, it's been all threats and no action.

Trump signal health care flexibility

..... The federal government shutdown entered a seventh day on October 7 [2025] with still no deal in sight after Senate Democrats for the fifth time rejected a Republican-backed bill to fund the government through November 21. [2025]
..... But in a significant shift, Trump is now expressing openness to one of Democrats' main policy demands - that expiring subsides in the Affordable Care Act be extended.
..... "If we made the right deal, I'd make a deal. sure," Trump said on October 6 [2025] when asked by a reporter whether he's willing to make a deal with Democrats on the expiring Obamacare subsidies for lower-income families.
..... the White House and Republican leaders in Congress have previously said they won't negotiate health are policy until after the government is reopened. But Trump said he;s started talking to Democrats about the subject.
..... "We have a negotiation going on with the Democrats that could lead to good things," Trump said. "and I'm talking about good things with regard to health care.
..... Trump did not identify the Democrats who are part of the discussion. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected Trump's claims that negotiations over health care are taking place.
..... "Trump;s claim isn't true - but if he's finally ready to work with Democrats, we'll be at the table," Schumer said in a statement.
..... Democrats have repeatedly pushed for a permanent extension of improved Obamacare subsidies, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, said October 7 [2025] that a one-year extension is "a nonstarter."
..... "That Democrats are going to go along with a one-year extension from a group of people that just extended permanent tax breaks from their billionaire donors is a laughable proposition," Jeffries said. "Permanent extensions, and let's go from there in terms of a negotiation."
..... The senator added: "If President Trump and Republicans are finally ready to sit down and get something done on healthcare for American families, Democrats will be there - ready to make it happen."

MTG calls for extension

..... Although Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is a Trump supporter who calls herself "not a fan" of Obamacare, the Georgia Republican joined Democrats in calling for an extension of federal subsidies under the Fordable Care Act to keep health insurance costs down.
..... Greene said in a social media post October 6 [2025] that her adult children's insurance premiums for 2026 are poised to "DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district," if the tax cerises expire.
..... Senate Democrats have refused to reopen the government since October 1 [2025] by arguing that Medicaid funding cuts should be restored and subsidies for Obamacare extended. Republicans who control Congress contented the Medicaid cuts rem-voe undocumented immigrants and force able-bodied citizens to work for Medicaid benefits. Greene doesn't seek to restore Medicaid cuts.
..... Trump and GOP congressional leaders say they can negotiate Obamacare subsidies after the government reopens and before the funding expires December 31. [2025]
..... "I'm carving my own lane," said Greene, who joined Congress in 2021 a decade after lawmakers cerated Obamacare. "And I'm absolutely disgusted that health insurance premiums will DOUBLE if the tax credits expire this year." [2025]

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