Thousands of contractors are missing out on back pay after a 35-day government shutdown.
Lawmakers are currently working furiously to hash out the details on a border security deal, and one thing that’s caught up in negotiations is a bill that would guarantee back pay for federal contractors affected by the recent government shutdown.
Unlike other government employees who received back pay for the time they were furloughed during the shutdown — which lasted a whopping 35 days — many federal contractors simply have a massive hole in their paychecks.
Because they work for third-party companies that the government pays for their services, contractors don’t get paid when these services aren’t used. During past shutdowns, contractors have been forced to chalk up this gap in pay as a loss.
A bill introduced by Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) seeks to change that, and Democrats are pushing to get it attached to a final spending package. This bill would guarantee back pay for federal contractors by calling on agencies to simply pay out funds that they would have spent anyway, had the government not been shut down.
