Mulvaney: Federal employees should receive back pay by the end of the week

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that all federal employees should receive back pay they missed during the 35-day government shutdown by the end of the week.

Mulvaney said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the timing depends on which payroll provider their agency uses.

“Some of them could be early this week, some of them may be later this week,” he said. “But we hope that by the end of this week all of the back pay will be made up, and of course the next payroll will go out on time.”

{mosads}He did not elaborate on whether federal contractors who went unpaid during the shutdown will receive compensation for their work, saying it will “depend on the contract.”

.@MickMulvaneyOMB on when federal employees can expect to be paid: “Some of them could be early this week. Some of them may be later this week, but we hope that by the end of this week all of the back pay will be we’ll be made up.” pic.twitter.com/gUINePmhfP

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 27, 2019

Roughly 800,000 federal employees were furloughed or required to work without pay during the partial government shutdown that ended Friday after 35 days. Most workers missed two paychecks during that period.

A Trump administration official told The Hill that they’ve been told to expect back pay within two to four business days after the shutdown ends. Members of the U.S. Coast Guard have also been told they’ll be paid within three to five business days.

The Trump administration drew flak for its handling of federal workers’ plight during the shutdown, with critics arguing that the president and other officials appeared out of touch.

Trump said at one point during the shutdown that he could relate to federal workers who were not being paid, while Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said last week that he didn’t understand why some employees were resorting to food banks.