Congress has approved a spending agreement that will allow the government to fully reopen once it is signed into law, ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The President is expected to sign it shortly.
NTEU is now calling on the administration to immediately provide all employees with the back pay that is owed. The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 indicates that federal employees who were not paid during the shutdown will receive their back pay at the “earliest date possible” after the government reopens, regardless of the next regular scheduled pay date.
Employees should not have to endure another minute of hardship waiting for their long-delayed paychecks to arrive, and we will be closely monitoring how each agency carries out this requirement.
The spending agreement provides funding for the rest of the fiscal year for a select group of agencies and programs related to agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, military construction, Veterans Affairs and the legislative branch. All other agencies and programs are funded through Jan. 30, 2026. We urge Congress and the administration to use the next two-and-a-half months to work together to fully fund the remaining agencies through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, 2026.
Importantly, the deal also overturns the reductions-in-force that were initiated during the shutdown and prohibits any more RIFs through Jan. 30.
We must all stand together and continue the fight to make sure employees are paid what they are owed, agencies have the funding needed to meet their missions, jobs are protected and elected officials stop using federal employees as leverage in political showdowns.