A number of Democratic senators — including Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. — on Thursday sent a letter to Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, urging the administration to direct federal agencies to work with contractors to provide back pay to compensate low- and middle-income contractor employees for the wages they have lost during the government shutdown.

After past shutdowns, contractor employees have generally not received back pay.

The letter, signed by 34 senators, said that under their existing authority, federal contracting officers should use provisions that allow them to modify the terms of the contract to work with contractors to provide back pay for employees who lost wages as a result of the government shutdown.

“Contract workers and their families should not suffer the consequences of a shutdown that they did not cause,” the letter stated. “Low-wage service contract workers perform jobs that are absolutely vital to the government, such as food service, security, and custodial work. Many of these workers live paycheck-to-paycheck, and cannot afford to pay their rent and other bills if the shutdown continues.”