Federal Employee Unions Hope Congress Overrides President’s Pay Freeze

Heather Curtis
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON (WMAL) – Civilian federal employees may be getting pay raises next year despite President Donald Trump’s announcement Thursday that he’s canceling them according to federal unions.

“It is certainly our hope and expectation that Congress will override the president’s request for a pay freeze,” said Jackie Simon, the policy director for the American Federation of Government Employees.

President Trump said federal agency budgets can’t sustain the increases and eliminating them was necessary to put the nation on a fiscally sustainable course.

“We cannot balance the budget on the backs of our federal employees, and I will work with my House and Senate colleagues to keep the pay increase in our appropriations measures that we vote on in September,” said Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) in a statement.

The Senate has already passed legislation that includes a 1.9 percent increase for federal employees, but legislation passed by the House did not include raises.

Simon thinks the House and Senate will reconcile their spending plans in the next few weeks, and the Senate version will prevail.

The president of the National Treasury Employees union, Tony Reardon, said in a statement his union will work with congress to secure pay raises for federal employees.

Comstock’s colleagues in Virginia and Maryland’s Congressional delegations are also vowing to do everything they can to pass legislation keep the raises intact.

“Congress can and must stand up to the President and reject this assault on our federal workers by passing the 1.9 percent pay raise that the Senate approved on August 1,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA).

Some want the raises to go above the 1.9 percent approved by the Senate. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) said his goal is to pass the FAIR Act, which would give federal workers a 3 percent raise in 2019. Reardon said the NTEU supports that legislation.