GOP deal would lift federal workers’ pay

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans have tentatively agreed to a 1.9 percent pay raise for the nation’s 2 million civilian federal workers, overruling President Donald Trump who sought to freeze their pay.

The preliminary deal between House and Senate Republicans is also likely to lift a salary freeze affecting hundreds of executive-level employees and appointees including Vice President Pence and members of the Trump Cabinet, according to lawmakers and aides.

Democrats oppose that element of the deal, and the package could change when lawmakers return to Capitol Hill after the midterm elections and complete negotiations.

Republicans who had been pushing to give civilian federal workers a raise hailed the outcome. GOP lawmakers including Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., had pushed Trump to reverse his initial decision in August to deny the raise.

Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., who is chairman of the spending subcommittee that handles the matter, credited Comstock for pushing for the result. Comstock is in a tough campaign to hang onto her northern Virginia House seat, and the salaries of the tens of thousands of federal employees in her district had become an important issue in her race.

“Thanks to Barbara Comstock’s tireless advocacy, there is an agreement in place on pay raises,” Graves said in a statement. “This wouldn’t be resolved without her help, or without President Trump’s booming economy.”

Comstock said in an interview that she lobbied Pence for a raise for the civilian workforce, and that he was receptive. But the White House, citing budget constraints, never reversed its opposition.

“I’ve been making the case for the rank-and-file side,” Comstock said. “I’m confident we will get it. We need to retain talent in the federal government.”

A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment, and a spokesman for Pence said the vice president’s office was not involved in negotiations on the raise.

The average federal worker salary is around $85,000, according to the federal Office of Personnel Management. But the American Federation of Government Employees, representing about 750,000 federal workers, says that number is inflated by the high salaries of some doctors and scientists, and that the bulk of federal workers make between $33,000 and $55,000 a year.

Around 15 percent of the nation’s 2.1 million federal workforce live in and around Washington. The majority of the 2.1 million work all over the nation at military bases, federal labs, national parks, veterans hospitals and other facilities scattered throughout the states.

Most federal civilian employees received a 1.9 percent raise in 2018, and they would be in line for another 1.9 percent raise in January 2019 under the congressional deal. Members of the military are on track to receive a 2.6 percent raise in January.

The question of government worker pay was among the final issues being negotiated as lawmakers rushed to finish a package of congressional spending bills last month, including the one funding federal salaries. Because no agreement was reached before the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30, the bills were wrapped into a short-term spending measure that runs through Dec. 7.

The House has already adjourned through the midterm elections, so lawmakers will resume talks when they return to the Capitol after the elections.