Brandon Williams, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), warned House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last week that a prolonged shutdown would force temporary suspension of nuclear security programs.
Williams told Johnson this in a private meeting, Politico reported. Williams, who oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile and nonproliferation programs, said such programs and the life extension of certain nuclear weapons could be put on hold. Meanwhile, contractors furloughed from these programs might not receive backpay, according to a draft White House Office of Management and Budget memo reported on by many news outlets.
Furloughed federal employees are guaranteed backpay at the end of a government shutdown according to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act passed by Congress in 2019, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said in a press conference last week at the Capitol his “assumption is that furloughed workers will get backpay.”
As of Oct. 9, an NNSA spokesperson told the Exchange Monitor in an email that the agency had not furloughed any workers at the time.