Part 5/9:
The law distinguishes between authorizing spending and appropriating funds—the latter requiring explicit congressional action. As such, the administration maintains that only essential workers, who are actively working during the shutdown, qualify for back pay, while the nearly 750,000 non-essential employees may not.
Legal Uncertainty and Potential Outcomes
The current legal framework suggests that the administration's interpretation could hold in court, especially if appellate judges uphold the distinctions in federal law. However, if courts lean the other way, there remains a possibility that back pay could be awarded retroactively to all affected federal workers, even those furloughed.