Politics

Comey, Warren Falsely Claim Federal Workers Will Have No Paycheck This Holiday

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Former FBI Director James Comey and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren — among others — have taken to Twitter to complain that federal workers will go without pay through the holidays.

Their claims, however, came nearly a full day after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released guidance to all cabinet agencies explaining how and when paychecks might be affected.

According to that guidance, the paycheck that most federal workers will receive between Dec. 28 and Jan. 3 covers the pay period from Dec. 9-22. The money to cover that pay period has already been appropriated by Congress and will be paid out as scheduled.

The only exception is in regard to those who worked on Dec. 22 after the shutdown began; they may see a paycheck that covers the rest of the pay period but does not include the hours worked on the 22nd.

OMB pay guidance for shutdown./Screen Shot/White House

OMB pay guidance for shutdown./Screen Shot/White House

Still, just hours after the OMB sent out that guidance, Comey was on Twitter blaming President Donald Trump for the fact that “FBI families will spend Christmas without a paycheck.” (RELATED: Comey Continues To Falsely Claim That Republicans Started The Steele Dossier)

Likewise, Sen. Warren blamed Trump’s “temper tantrum” and claimed that “hundreds of thousands of federal employees will go without a paycheck over the holidays.”

OMB Deputy Director Russ Vought responded to Warren, explaining that she was mistaken.

But media personalities were quick to jump on the narrative:

According to OMB’s guidance, the first paycheck that could be delayed is the one due January 11, 2019, and it will only be delayed if the government is still shut down. If those paychecks are delayed, they will be repaid by the treasury once the government reopens and all offices have returned to their regular schedules.

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