Legislation Authored by Senators Collins, Cardin to Ensure Federal Workers Affected by Shutdowns Receive Retroactive Pay Signed into Law
Washington, D.C. – Today, President Donald Trump signed into law legislation authored by U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) that will protect federal and other government workers from the financial repercussions of the current and future lapses in federal appropriations.
Earlier this month, Senators Collins and Cardin were joined by 28 Senate colleagues in reintroducing the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, which guarantees that furloughed federal employees will be paid retroactively and stipulates that all employees shall be paid as soon as possible after a lapse in appropriations ends. Senators Collins and Cardin’s bill previously passed the Senate unanimously and passed the House by an overwhelming margin.
“The partial government shutdown represents a failure to govern and harms not only those who need to interact with the closed agencies, but also hundreds of thousands of federal employees and their families who don’t know when they will receive their next paycheck,” said Senator Collins. “I am pleased that an overwhelming, bipartisan majority of our colleagues joined us in passing this legislation to guarantee back pay to federal workers affected by the shutdown. While this will help provide some peace of mind, a compromise must be reached to bring this impasse to an end as quickly as possible.”
Senators who co-sponsored Senators Collins and Cardin’s legislation included: Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Angus King (I-Maine), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.).
Click HERE for the text of the bill.
