Nation’s largest federal employee union calls for 'clean CR' with backpay guarantee to reopen government

The president of the nation’s largest union representing federal and Washington, D.C., workers on Monday called on lawmakers to pass a “clean” continuing resolution to reopen government, as the ongoing shutdown hampering agency operations prepares to enter its fifth week.

In a post on the American Federation of Government Employees’ website, National President Everett Kelley said that as the shutdown threatens to enter its second month and federal workers missed their first full paycheck last week, Congress should restore agency funding immediately and save policy debates for once the federal workforce is made whole.

“It’s time for our leaders to start focusing on how to solve problems for the American people, rather than on who is going to get the blame for a shutdown that Americans dislike,” he wrote. “Because when the folks who serve this country are standing in line for food banks after missing a second paycheck because of this shutdown, they aren’t looking for partisan spin. They’re looking for the wages they earned. The fact that they’re being cheated out of it is a national disgrace.”

Kelley said any deal to reopen government should include a “clean” CR “that allows continued debate,” coupled with language ensuring backpay for all federal workers, furloughed and excepted alike. The Trump administration in recent weeks has promulgated a dubious legal theory that the 2019 Government Employees Fair Treatment Act, which guaranteed backpay for furloughed workers once any future funding lapse has ceased, still requires Congress to appropriate said backpay.

“None of these steps favor one political side over another,” Kelley wrote. “They favor the American people—who expect stability from their government and responsibility from their leaders. The national interest requires Congress to act immediately to bring every federal employee back to work, pay them for the work they’ve already done (or been locked out from doing), and continue having the debates and disagreements that are the hallmark of a strong democracy—without punishing the people who keep our nation running.”

Monday’s statement could put additional pressure on Democrats to end their quest to secure an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year, triggering massive premium increases effective next year but visible as Americans shop for health insurance this fall. But complicating matters is the fact that the House-passed CR contains no language related to backpay, and House Republicans have refused to call lawmakers back to Washington since late September.

Matt Biggs, national president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, said that at this point, his union also supports a so-called clean CR, but noted that groups advocating on behalf of federal workers are clear-eyed that broader appropriations reforms are needed, given the Trump administration’s maximalist view of presidential power.

“A clean CR is exactly what we need, because it’s the best we’re going to get at this point, and it needs to be bipartisan,” Biggs said. “But we recognize that the numbers in the CR, and any funding bill at this point, are meaningless unless Congress reestablishes its power of the purse. We can pass any CR or any funding bill we want, but if [Office of Management and Budget Director] Russ Vought is allowed to impound funds and spend them in any way he chooses, that language is meaningless.”