参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩(John Thune)周三告诉美国广播公司(ABC)新闻，当政府关闭结束时，数千名休假的联邦工作人员将获得欠薪。
然而，他不愿透露他是否与唐纳德·特朗普总统讨论过此事，尽管有联邦法律，特朗普总统威胁要拒绝向一些工人发放追溯工资。
Thune告诉ABC新闻的Linsey Davis，他相信受到关闭影响的工人将会得到他们的欠薪。
“我相信他们会的，我认为这是我的假设，我认为这是法律规定的，”图恩说。
2019年的《政府雇员公平待遇法》规定，在联邦资金恢复后，联邦工作人员应获得报酬。
图恩的评论是在特朗普之后一天发表的暗示的关闭结束后，一些工人可能收不到任何补发的工资。
“我想说这取决于我们在谈论谁。但在大多数情况下，我们会照顾好我们的人民。特朗普在椭圆形办公室会见加拿大总理马克·卡尼时表示:“有些人真的不值得被照顾，我们会用不同的方式照顾他们。”。
当戴维斯问及他是否与特朗普谈论过这个问题或同意他的提议时，图恩没有回应。
“嗯，我认为这个问题相当清楚。我认为法律，这是我们在2018年或2019年通过的法律，对此非常清楚。所以，再一次，一旦政府开放，这就不是问题了，”图恩说。
然而，参议院多数党领袖重申了总统的警告，即如果政府继续关闭，裁员和机构削减可能会发生。
“我认为如果关闭持续很长一段时间会发生什么的问题是，政府将不得不就政府的不同机构和部门做出决定，你知道-他们将优先考虑什么，”图恩说。
“结束这种局面的方法是开放政府，这样我们就不必担心任何人拿不到工资，”他补充道。
法律专家认为宪法和联邦法律允许只有国会才能宣布削减联邦机构或完全取消它们。
白宫没有就特朗普威胁的合法性提供更多细节，也没有回答解雇没有工资的人将如何减少浪费的问题。
图恩和众议院议长·迈克·约翰逊一再声称，在没有细节的情况下，总统有权在政府关闭期间进行这些削减。
Thune: Trump's threats to withhold back pay for government workers is a 'non-issue'
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told ABC News on Wednesday that the thousands of furloughed federal workers will get back pay when the government shutdown ends.
However, he would not say whether he has discussed this with President Donald Trump, who has threatened to deny the retroactive pay to some workers despite the federal law.
Thune told ABC News' Linsey Davis that he believes the workers who have been affected by the shutdown will get their back pay.
"I believe they will, I think that's the assumption I operate under, and I think that's what the law stipulates," Thune said.
The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 mandates that federal workers be paid after federal funding is restored.
Thune's comments came a day after Trumpsuggestedthat some workers may not receive any of their retroactive salaries when the shutdown ends.
"I would say it depends on who we're talking about. But for the most part, we're going to take care of our people. 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 said during an Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Thune did not respond when asked by Davis if he spoke to Trump about the issue or agreed with his proposal.
"Well, I think that issue is fairly clear. I think the law, and this is a law that we passed back in 2018 or 2019, is very clear about that. So, again, it becomes a non-issue once the government opens up," Thune said.
The Senate majority leader, however, repeated the president's warning that layoffs and agency cuts could take place if the shutdown continues.
"I think the question of what happens if the shutdown continues over a long period of time is the administration will have to make decisions about different agencies and departments of government, you know -- what they're going to prioritize," Thune said.
"The way to end that is to open up the government, then we don't have to worry about anybody not getting paid," he added.
Legal experts arguethe Constitution and federal law allowonly Congress to declare cuts to federal agencies or remove them entirely.
The White House has not provided more details on the legality of Trump's threats, nor has it responded to questions as to how firing people who are not getting paid would cut down on waste.
Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson have repeatedly claimed, without details, that the president has the power to make those cuts during the shutdown.
