Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia asked the Trump administration Tuesday to justify its piecemeal recall of federal workers amid the partial government shutdown, saying he fears the White House is picking “winners and losers” for political expediency.
Mr. Warner, a Democrat whose state is home to many federal workers, said he wants the administration to explain whether its decision to recall flight-safety inspectors, IRS workers who process tax refunds and workers who help farmers flouts the Anti-Deficiency Act, legislation that prohibits federal agencies from spending money that Congress hasn’t appropriated.
His complaint dovetails with lawsuits from unionized Treasury employees, who say Mr. Trump’s push to recall workers without pay amounts to a “blank check” that lets him extend his push for border-wall funding while diminishing the public backlash over the shutdown, which began Dec. 22.
“Rather than finding ways to minimize the impact of the current government shutdown, and straining legal bounds to do so, it is my strong belief that the best way to fix the current situation is to simply end the shutdown,” Mr. Warner wrote to the Interior, State, Treasury, Agriculture and Transportation departments, and the IRS specifically.
Like other Democrats, Mr. Warner is urging Mr. Trump to support bills that reopen the government before negotiating on border security.
The White House’s budget office says it’s doing a good job of managing the shutdown while staying within the lines of Department of Justice opinions that go back nearly 40 years.
“The administration is applying a meticulous and thoughtful process — on a case-by-case basis — when interpreting this guidance to make legal determinations that help preserve government programs until congressional Democrats send the president an acceptable bill that both re-opens the government and provides proper border security for the American people,” Brad Bishop, spokesman at the Office of Management and Budget, told The Washington Times last week.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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