@ChrisVanHollen is lying or is woefully uninformed about GEFTA’s provisions - it does not guarantee backpay for furloughed workers. He should check out this @Axios @MarcACaputo story.
Axios story said that in emails exchanged between OMB and Hill staff in 2019, OMB stated that GEFTA did not create an entitlement for furloughed workers.
According to story, an OMB email stated "It's preferable if S. 24 [GEFTA] were further clarified to make it more explicit that payment to furloughed employees is contingent on future appropriations . . .”
And that’s EXACTLY what Congress did by making clear that federal employees shall be paid “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.” (see highlighted section below).
Thus, as the Caputo story notes, P.L. 116-5 provided a specific appropriation to cover pay for federal employees, including furloughed workers. (see highlighted section below).
Why would Congress write this appropriation specifically covering federal workers referenced in 1341 (c) if the law already guaranteed that furloughed workers would be automatically be paid??
Does Van Hollen know his Approps staff took the exact language OMB suggested for the start up legislation that ended the lapse, as Caputo writes in his story??
Senator Van Hollen, please stop lying or do some basic work by consulting your staff and committee records to learn what happened in the negotiations on the law you claim you “wrote.”
One final note – President Trump is making sure our brave men and women in the armed forces are paid on time on October 15th and won’t be held hostage to the SCHUMER shutdown.