In the News

Mike DeBonis

The House on Wednesday is set to pass a pay raise for civilian federal employees in what Democrats are casting as both a necessity and a gesture of appreciation for a workforce reeling after a 35-day partial government shutdown.

The 2.6-percent raise is calibrated to match that given to military personnel in a 2019 spending bill passed last year. President Trump subjected the rest of the federal workforce to a pay freeze in a Dec. 28 executive order, though Congress could override that at any time.

Before the shutdown began, Senate appropriators had agreed on a 1.9 percent raise for civilian employees in 2019 but that provision — along with the rest of a federal spending agreement — got caught up in the standoff over Trump’s proposed southern border wall.

The ensuing shutdown caused 800,000 workers to have two paychecks delayed, and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), the author of the bill, said the pay raise is “not only deserved, but it’s also symbolically important.”

“After the shutdown, it’s imperative that this body make a statement to the civilian workforce that it is respected, that their work does have dignity and we recognize that,” he said Tuesday.

The bill is co-sponsored by every Washington-area House member, including Reps. Don Beyer and Jennifer Wexton of Virginia, as well as Reps. Anthony G. Brown, Jamie Raskin and David Trone of Maryland, and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. All are Democrats.

House Republicans on Tuesday criticized the bill for not having gotten a committee hearing or markup or a fiscal cost analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform subcommittee dealing with the federal workforce, said the cost of the raise could reach $50 billion.

“We’ve had a rush to put this thing on the floor, [which] would lead many of us to believe this is nothing but a messaging bill and is not serious about trying to make real reforms to the federal workforce,” he said in a House Rules Committee meeting. “What we have here is a rush to try to send a message that Republicans are awful to federal workers and Democrats are not.”

Federal salaries were previously frozen in 2011, 2012 and 2013 under President Barack Obama, who was under pressure from congressional Republicans to get federal budget deficits under control.

Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said no decisions have been announced on when or how that chamber might take up a civilian pay raise.

Five Senate Democrats on Tuesday introduced legislation instituting a 2.6 percent pay raise, matching the House bill. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said the increase over the previously negotiated 1.9 percent raise was justified “in light of the added costs imposed on federal workers by the shutdown.”

“Now more than ever, they deserve this cost of living adjustment to help make ends meet,” he said.

Congressional aides said the pay raise will likely have to be settled as part of the ongoing spending negotiations.

The short-term spending bill that ended the shutdown is set to expire Feb. 15. Bipartisan negotiators are meeting this week to begin hashing out Department of Homeland Security funding in hopes of reaching a border security deal. The other funding bills, which include the pay raise, are less controversial and are set to be passed once the wall issue is settled, the aides said.

Connolly noted that the pay raise legislation is the first measure that Democratic leaders are bringing to the floor under standard procedures following the shutdown.

“I think that says a lot in terms of the importance we put on making this statement and trying to restore morale and respect for our federal employees,” he said. “This is about fairness — real basic fairness to our federal employees who are falling further and further behind their private sector counterparts.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-set-to-pass-26-percent-pay-raise-for-civilian-federal-employees/2019/01/29/fded8852-240c-11e9-90cd-dedb0c92dc17_story.html?utm_term=.14e243565375