“On Tuesday, a group of Democratic senators advocated to secure back pay for federal contractors who went without pay during the 35-day partial government shutdown in late 2018 and early this year.”
“Unlike the 350,000 federal employees furloughed during the lapse in appropriations, federal contractors were not compensated for the longest shutdown in history that lasted from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019. Sens. Tina Smith, D-Minn.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; and Tim Kaine, D-Va. spoke on the Senate floor on Tuesday to push for a Senate appropriations amendment to give hundreds of thousands of contractors back pay. The House already approved this measure in its version of the appropriations package in June…”
“Smith, along with the other senators who spoke out Tuesday, introduced the ‘Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor Employees Act’ (S. 162) in January to secure contractors’ back pay. Despite some bipartisan support, there hasn’t been any action on it…” Read the full article here.
Source: Democratic Senators Renew Push for Contractors to Receive Shutdown Back Pay – By Courtney Bublé, October 29, 2019. Government Executive.




