Federal workers could see a 1.9% pay bump against Trump’s wishes
Rep. Roger Marshall, (R-Kansas), on President Trump canceling pay raises for federal employees, the Trump administration's efforts to renegotiate U.S. trade deals, government spending.
Despite President Trump’s attempts to freeze pay increases for non-military federal employees in 2019, a raise could still be on the table for all federal workers.
A Capitol Hill source close to the discussions confirmed to FOX Business on Thursday that congressional Republicans had tentatively agreed to a 1.9 percent increase in wages for all 2 million civilian federal workers, as first reported by The Washington Post.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock from Virginia, who fought for the wage increase, echoed that sentiment.
"I am pleased that an agreement has been reached to provide our federal employees with the raises they have earned and deserve," Comstock wrote. "With our strong, booming economy, it is essential that we keep our federal salaries competitive so we attract the talent in the civilian workforce that is needed for our national security, homeland security, law enforcement, and medical research jobs and more."
However, a separate source cautioned that no deal has been finalized and negotiations are ongoing.
The deal could potentially lift a freeze on wages for members of the president’s cabinet and Vice President Mike Pence as well, the Post reported.
Federal employees typically receive raises in line with cost-of-living increases, with those residing in higher-cost localities receiving more cash.
According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the average civilian federal employee makes a base salary of nearly $85,000.
Trump proposed a freeze on federal employees’ salaries as early as February, repeating those calls again during recent months, citing “serious economic conditions.”
“We must maintain efforts to put our nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases,” the president wrote in a letter to Congress in August. “Across-the-board pay increases and locality pay increases, in particular, have long-term fixed costs, yet fail to address existing pay disparities or target mission critical recruitment and retention goals.”
Trump signed a bill in August giving the armed forces a 2.6 percent pay increase – the largest in nearly a decade.
President Barack Obama implemented a freeze on federal worker pay between 2011 and 2013 during the recovery from the financial crisis.
FOX Business' Blake Burman contributed to this report.