Trump calls back federal workers as polls show GOP taking blame for shutdown

More than three weeks into the government shutdown, the Trump administration is recalling furloughed workers at the federal agency that manages health care for millions of Americans.

Thousands of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services employees will be instructed to return to work on Monday. They have been out of work since October 1 after Congress failed to reach a deal to fund the government.

The callbacks at CMS demonstrate the extent to which President Donald Trump’s administration will protect certain politically popular services as the shutdown drags on, often employing creative or questionable accounting maneuvers to fund specific jobs.

A spokesperson said the agency would leverage fees it collects from users who pay for CMS research data to pay retired workers. They noted that open enrollment has already begun for Medicare and will soon begin for the Affordable Care Act.

“To better serve the American people…CMS will temporarily recall all furloughed employees on Monday, October 27,” the spokesperson said in an email. “CMS will continue to comply with the rules governing the Democratic-led government shutdown.”

Almost half of the agency’s more than 6,000 workers would have been laid off, according to its contingency plan.

The decision to bring them back was first reported by axios.

Hoping to avoid voters’ blame for the shutdown, the Trump administration has been digging through the couch cushions for money that could fund some operations during the expiration of appropriations. A good example would be using entrance fees to national parks to help keep them open, even though the park service is not funded by Congress at this time.

Win McNamee via Getty Images

The White House has also devised ways to continue paying favored government employees, such as immigration officials and military members, even though some legal and budget scholars say Trump is usurping congressional control over the purse when doing so.

The shutdown entered its fourth week Wednesday as Democrats held firm in their demand that Republicans extend subsidies for people who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Recent polls have shown that voters are more likely to blame Republicans than Democrats for the gridlock.

Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, said agencies can use certain fees — known as “matching collections” — to legally fund activities during the shutdown. He noted that federal courts have been using that money to continue operating despite the lack of funding.

“As long as it’s a compensation proceeds, it’s real, honest money that they can use at their discretion,” he said.

Kogan said Trump has been violating the law by refusing to spend money that Congress has appropriated and also by spending money that Congress has not authorized him to, for example, by using Department of Defense research and development funds to pay troops.

In the case of CMS funds, Kogan said, legality depends about what rates they are obtained from and for what purpose the statute authorizes their use, details that could take time to resolve.

“It’s entirely possible that they have legitimate money but then go further than [allowed] purpose,” he said.