{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://ross.house.gov/2025/10/ross-joins-bipartisan-group-of-lawmakers-to-demand-administration-follow-the-law-provide-pay-to-furloughed-federal-workers", "Ross Joins Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers to Demand Administration Follow the Law, Provide Pay to Furloughed Federal Workers", "2025-10-15", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "House", "NC", "Deborah K. Ross", "R000305", "ross.house.gov", "ross", "https://ross.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Today, Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02) joined 167 lawmakers in a bipartisan letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought following reports that the Trump Administration intends to withhold back pay for furloughed federal workers, in violation of legislation signed by Trump in 2019.\n\nIn their letter, the Members call attention to recent changes to OMB\u2019s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document which implies that furloughed federal workers are not entitled to back pay. Prior to the 2019 law, Congress had to pass specific legislation after each shutdown to ensure furloughed workers received back pay.\n\nThe lawmakers wrote, \u201cThe law is clear: all impacted government employees\u2026 are entitled to back pay after a government shutdown ends, which is consistent with guidance provided by federal agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). OPM\u2019s shutdown guidance for September 2025 still states that furloughed federal workers will be provided back pay once the government reopens. The decision by OMB to remove critical guidance on federal employee back pay is causing unnecessary stress for the federal workforce comprised of nearly 2.2 million employees.\u201d\n\nThey concluded by calling on OMB to clarify the FAQs document to affirm that furloughed employees will receive back pay, as required by law.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://ross.house.gov/2025/10/ross-joins-bipartisan-group-of-lawmakers-to-demand-administration-follow-the-law-provide-pay-to-furloughed-federal-workers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8545438759028912, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}