In contrast to the White House’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal that would freeze civilian Federal workers’ salaries next year, the House Appropriations Committee is proposing a 3.1 percent increase in those salaries in its Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill.
“This bill is about protecting hardworking American families and workers, who have been shortchanged by the Trump administration since day one,” House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said in a press release of the bill’s summary.
Along with freezing the pay of civilian Federal workers’ salaries for fiscal year 2020, the White House also proposed changes to the Federal Employees Retirement System and the Civil Service Retirement System. The House Appropriations bill does not include those changes.
It is important to note that a 3.1 raise is far from settled. The White House proposed a pay freeze in the FY19 budget, but Federal workers ultimately ended up with a 1.9 percent increase. The Senate has not introduced its version of the budget bill yet and once it makes it through the House and Senate, the reconciliation process will begin to settle differences before it is sent to the President for approval.
