CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Hammers Jordan Over Trump Threat to Block Pay: ‘It’s Federal Law’
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins hammered Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) over President Donald Trump’s threat to block back pay for some furloughed federal workers, grilling him on a law — which Jordan voted for and Trump signed — that guarantees back pay.
Trump was asked about back pay for workers during an Oval Office scrum with reporters as he met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Asked about a leaked White House memo saying workers aren’t entitled to back pay once the government shutdown ends, Trump said, “There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’ll take care of them in a different way.”
On Tuesday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins spent four minutes and change blasting Jordan over the 2019 law that he voted for, finally extracting an extremely tacit admission that Trump does not have the power to make good on the threat under current law:
KAITLAN COLLINS: In addition to your titles, you also have 56,000, I think, federal workers in your home state of Ohio. 6,000 in your district alone. Do you think that–
REP. JIM JORDAN: Lot of people at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, yes, I think–
COLLINS: Yes. Do you think that they should all be getting back pay?
JORDAN: Well, I think people who are working, certainly. I mean the way, you know, people who are furloughed, who aren’t essential, I think that’s a different question.
But the way to solve this is for Chuck Schumer to open the government, for Chuck Schumer to vote for what he did, six months ago, and then you don’t have — you don’t have to deal with this question.
But where I come from, if the truck driver is not driving a truck, he doesn’t get paid. If the guy who hangs drywall is not hanging drywall, he doesn’t get paid. So, I think that’s a different question than certainly, the people who are working every day, during this shutdown caused by Chuck Schumer.
But the question is moot, if Chuck Schumer would simply do what he did, six months ago, do the commonsense thing, vote for the level of spending that he and all the other Democrats agreed to, just a few months ago.
COLLINS: So your stance is, if you’re going to work, you should get paid.
JORDAN: Certainly.
COLLINS: If you’re at home, you should not get paid.
JORDAN: Well, I think that — no, what I’m saying is, that’s how most Americans see it, I believe. But it’s a moot question, if the — if the Democrats, will just do the right thing, if Chuck Schumer will just say, We’re going to open the government, I voted for it, six months ago.
I mean, the real debate here is — the real–
COLLINS: But actually, is it a moot point, because the — they’ve already gone one week without getting paid. And if you’re someone who’s furloughed, which is, you’re told not to come to work. You’re not choosing not to go to work. And some of these — you know, one in six Americans lives paycheck to paycheck–
JORDAN: And — and–
COLLINS: –and that probably includes federal workers.
JORDAN: And Kaitlan, the easiest way for this to all get — the easiest remedy is the one that Chuck Schumer voted for, six months ago. Open up the government. Open up the government.
The real debate here is between Chuck Schumer and himself. Six months ago, he picked commonsense. Today, he’s picking the radical left. Six months ago, he voted for the level of spending. He won’t do it today, because frankly, as we all know, he’s nervous about the left, particularly AOC in a primary in a couple years.
COLLINS: I want to talk about Chuck Schumer.
JORDAN: So, that is the real debate.
COLLINS: But this is actually a debate for these federal workers, who have nothing to do with what’s happening between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. They’re caught in the middle of this, and they — they didn’t bring on this shutdown. So why should they have to suffer and not get their back pay?
JORDAN: They don’t have to suffer, if Chuck Schumer opens the government, if Democrats will open the government, if they will vote for the exact same–
COLLINS: But if it opens tomorrow, they went a week without pay, right?
JORDAN: And President’s — I think they get paid. But I think the President’s saying, If this goes on, maybe, maybe there’s this question, he’s going to debate it, going to look at it.
The other thing you got to keep in mind is, what are they supposed to do? $37 trillion debt, and the Democrats refuse to open the government? What are they supposed to do? So, I think that’s the other thing you got to look at. And I think, frankly, that’s how most, again, Americans who have commonsense, view the whole situation.
COLLINS: Yes, but the debt has been there. It’s been a problem in past government shutdowns. And the President signed that bill in 2019 to restore back pay, for all these federal workers then.
JORDAN: And he — and he may in fact–
COLLINS: And you voted yes on that, actually.
JORDAN: And he may — and he may, in fact, do the same thing now. All I’m saying is, the easiest way to make sure this is not a concern for any people, people who are working, or people who are furloughed, is for the Democrats to open the government.
COLLINS: But actually, when the bill was signed, back in 2019, during that last shutdown, it wasn’t just for that shutdown, it was for future shutdowns, so federal workers wouldn’t get caught in this dispute between Republicans and Democrats.
JORDAN: OK. OK, fine. That’s fine. That’s what we signed back then. I think the same thing could happen this time. We’ll see.
But we know it’s not a problem, if the Democrats will do the right thing, the commonsense thing, instead of saying, Oh, I’m going to do what the hard-left is demanding our party do, fight President Trump at every single turn.
This is so darn simple. You voted for it, six months ago. What’s the difference now? I mean, I like — I like what–
COLLINS: OK. So, you — OK.
JORDAN: I like what the vice president said. They’re saying, We’re going to shut down the government because we’re concerned about a policy difference that doesn’t take effect for three months. Well, then open up the government. We don’t have to worry about this question.
COLLINS: So, if your position is what they voted for, six months ago, they should vote again for now, right?
JORDAN: Well, that, yes, I think it’s pretty clear, on the government–
COLLINS: OK. So you–
JORDAN: –on the government — on opening the government, certainly.
COLLINS: OK. So, you voted in 2019, the federal workers who are furloughed should get their back pay. So, why is your position different now?
JORDAN: It’s not different now. It depends on what the President decides to do, and then what we pick up as Congress. All I’m saying is most–
COLLINS: But it’s a federal law, actually.
JORDAN: All I’m saying — OK. And all I’m saying is–
COLLINS: So, is it up to the President?
JORDAN: All I’m saying is most Americans say, If you’re working, you should get paid. If you’re not, that’s a different question. Now, in the past, we’ve all–
COLLINS: But that’s not the law you signed.
JORDAN: That–
COLLINS: You didn’t say — when you voted yes on this, that you voted for in 2019, you didn’t say the caveat, If they’re working, they get paid. It said, All furloughed workers get paid.
JORDAN: I’m just — I’m just commenting on what the President said. And I think the easiest way to remedy this is what I’ve said now, several times. Chuck Schumer, open up the government.
COLLINS: Yes, but I’m talking about what you voted for. So is your — if your position is still then, then it’s that furloughed workers who aren’t going to the office shouldn’t get paid.
JORDAN: And we may in fact vote for that again, because I think it would take a change in the law to undo what we did back in 2019.
Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.
