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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin joined a bipartisan group of her Senate colleagues, led by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), in writing to Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Margaret M. Weichert, urging the Trump administration to provide back pay for federal workers as soon as possible.
The Senators write, “More than 800,000 federal workers have gone without pay because the government shutdown locked them out of their jobs or required them to work without pay. These workers need to know now when they will finally receive their missed paychecks.”
They continue, “We supported the recently enacted Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, which ensured that all federal workers would receive back pay. That law mandates that the federal government shall provide back pay, ‘at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates.’”
They close the letter stating, “This government shutdown made it clearer than ever just how dedicated civil servants are to their jobs, and how vital those jobs are to the nation. We ask that you publicize when exactly these civil servants can expect to receive their back pay, and we hope it will arrive very soon.”
Joining Senators Baldwin and Van Hollen are U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Tom Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Doug Jones (D-AL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Tom Udall (D-NM), Mark Warner (D-VA), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
The full letter is available here and below.
