Members of Congress in both parties bristled Tuesday at a White House memo arguing that federal workers who have been furloughed as part of the government shutdown are not necessarily entitled to backpay.

Why it matters: The threat has had little apparent impact with its intended target — congressional Democrats — who expressed confidence that President Trump would ultimately lose any legal fight to deny shutdown pay. • "The law is simply not on the side of Trump's threats to withhold pay from federal employees that he somehow disfavors," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Axios in a phone interview.

Driving the news: The memo points to amended language in the "Government Employee Fair Treatment Act" of 2019, or GEFTA, that says compensation for furloughed employees is "subject to the enac

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