Senator Warren Joins Senator Van Hollen and a Bipartisan Group of Senators to Urge the Administration to Immediately Pay Federal Workers Affected by the Shutdown
Washington, DC - Today, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), along with 27 of their colleagues, and sent a bipartisan letter to Margaret M. Weichert, Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), urging the Administration to provide back pay for federal workers as soon as possible.
“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,” wrote the Senators. “These workers need to know now when they will finally receive their missed paychecks.”
“We supported the recently enacted Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, which ensured that all federal workers would receive back pay,” the Senators continued in the letter. “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.’”
“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,” concluded the Senators. “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.”
Senators Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan M. Collins (R-Maine), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Angus King (I-Maine) joined the letter.
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