President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that some furloughed federal employees could be left without back pay when the government finally reopens.

Around 750,000 government employees have not been working since the Senate failed to pass a temporary funding bill last week. When asked whether these employees would all receive back pay after the end of the government shutdown, Trump said that “it depends” on the federal worker.

“I would say it depends on who we’re talking about. I can tell you this, the Democrats have put a lot of people in great risk and jeopardy, but it really depends on who you’re talking about, but for the most part we’re going to take care of our people,” Trump told reporters. “There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of and we’ll take care of them in a different way.”

Trump’s remarks follow reports that the Office of Management and Budget drafted a memo making the legal case that furloughed workers aren’t automatically guaranteed back pay. The memo analyzed the ”Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019,” which stipulated that all federal workers furloughed after December 18, 2018, due to a lack of government funding should “be compensated for the period of the lapse.”

According to Axios, the memo argues that furloughed workers can only receive back pay if Congress includes the money for it in the bill that ends the shutdown. Furloughed workers hold nonessential positions and are sent home when the government shuts down. The Trump administration says that those who continue working during shutdowns, considered “essential” workers like air traffic controllers, should still receive pay once funding is restored.

“Does this law cover all these furloughed employees automatically? The conventional wisdom is: Yes, it does. Our view is: No, it doesn’t,” another senior official added. 

Get 40% off new DailyWire+ annual memberships with code FALL40 at checkout

Republicans are pushing for a short-term funding bill that continues funding at the same levels as the previous year, while Democrats have pushed for spending increases. 

“This would not have happened if Democrats voted for the clean [continuing resolution],” a senior administration official told Axios. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) stated that he wanted furloughed employees to receive back pay, but this was not a position with which everyone agreed. 

“There are legal analysts who think that that is not something that government should do,” he said. “If that is true, that should turn up the urgency and the necessity of the Democrats doing the right thing here.”

The Trump administration has previously floated the possibility of using the shutdown to implement mass firings rather than layoffs. Those layoffs have not yet been carried out, but the Office of Management and Budget has instructed department heads to prepare to reduce their workforce as much as possible. 

New York officially has a heavyweight political bout on its hands in 2026.

A new survey of New York voters shows Kathy Hochul, the incumbent Democrat governor, with just a small single-digit lead over Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik, and also that the race could get even tighter if New York City voters elect socialist Zohran Mamdani next month.

Hochul leads Stefanik 48% to 43%, according to the GrayHouse poll conducted late last month just after the governor endorsed Mamdani. Hochul finds herself in a “deeply vulnerable position,” the polling memo reviewed by The Daily Wire states, especially given underlying data points that indicate the race will only tighten.

It shows, for example, that a win by Mamdani in the mayor’s race makes 47% of independent voters less willing to vote for a Democrat for governor, with only 9% saying it would make them more likely to vote Democrat. When voters were asked whether they wanted Hochul reelected or whether it was time for someone else, 59% of New York voters said it was time for anyone but Hochul.

And in what the pollster calls an “informed ballot,” in which voters are polled after hearing political narratives about the candidates, including that Hochul had just endorsed Mamdani, her 5-point lead completely evaporates: in that sample, Stefanik actually takes a small half-point lead, 46.4% to 45.9%.

Stefanik says the poll results should be expected, given the state of New York under single-party Democrat rule.

“Kathy Hochul, the worst Governor in America, is a deeply embattled and historically unpopular failed Governor who is struggling to even gain support from her own party,” Stefanik said. “Kathy Hochul’s single party Democrat rule affordability crisis, coupled with the crime crisis from failed bail reform, combined with the sanctuary state policies, putting criminals and illegals first and New Yorkers last, is a political disaster for Hochul.”

Stefanik, an Albany native who has represented upstate New York in Congress for the past decade, has risen to political stardom in recent years as a member of House leadership and close political ally of President Donald Trump. The president actually nominated her to be his ambassador to the United Nations, but she stepped down during the confirmation process to save the Republican majority, winning her allies throughout the party. She’s yet to officially launch her gubernatorial bid, but it’s considered to be a question of when she does so, not if.

Hochul, who took office after her disgraced Democrat colleague Andrew Cuomo resigned over sexual harassment accusations, vastly underperformed expectations in her only election at the top of the ticket. In 2022, with polls predicting she’d win by double-digits over Republican Lee Zeldin, Hochul only won by a few percentage points. And with the state reeling during her first full term as governor, Stefanik’s team views her as vulnerable.

“This poll is devastating for the Worst Governor in America,” said Alex deGrasse, a longtime Stefanik operative. “Voters want change and a Governor who will fight for them, which is why they will resoundingly reject Kathy Hochul for new leadership in Elise Stefanik if she decides to run for Governor. What is truly remarkable about this poll is that this is before Elise has even formally announced her campaign. There is a reason why Kathy is running scared.”

Hochul finds herself in a precarious position, with Democrat voters in the state split between more traditional candidates and socialists like Mamdani and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  Asked whether they “align” more with “traditional Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries” or “Democratic Socialists like AOC, Bernie Sanders, and Zohran Mamdani,” Democrat voters were perfectly split, 40% to 40%.

Hochul’s one-time running mate Andrew Cuomo is running against Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race as an independent. Though Hochul endorsed Mamdani, she’s so politically unpopular that he was unwilling to even return the favor.

Polling in recent months has shown Stefanik down double-digits, including one poll showing Hochul with a lead of 25 points, according to RealClearPolitics. The GrayHouse poll was conducted from September 20 to September 26, and had a 2.6% margin of error.