Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on Sunday said the hope is that federal employees who were furloughed or forced to work without pay during the government shutdown will receive their back pay by the end of this week.

He said the specific timing could depend on the federal agency in question.

“Some of them could be early this week. Some of them may be later this week but we hope that by the end of this week all of the back pay will be made up and of course the next payroll will go out on time,” Mr. Mulvaney said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

For affected federal contractors, Mr. Mulvaney said questions over pay would depend on the nature of the contract.

President Trump earlier this month signed into law a measure ensuring that affected federal workers would get paid for lost wages during what ended up being the longest shutdown in U.S. history, running from Sat., Dec. 22 to Fri., Jan. 25.

Mr. Trump on Friday signed into law a stopgap funding bill that will re-open affected agencies through Feb. 15, but doesn’t include money for his desired U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The president said he could invoke emergency powers to start wall construction or orchestrate another shutdown if Congress can’t strike a deal on homeland security funding in the next three weeks.

Mr. Mulvaney said the president doesn’t want to shut the government down or declare a national emergency, but that Mr. Trump is willing to do “whatever it takes” to secure the border.

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