Federal employees may have to wait until the final weeks of the year to learn whether Congress will override President Donald Trump’s proposed 2027 pay freeze, lawmakers said Sept. 23, warning that the outcome is far from guaranteed.
Speaking at a Sept. 23 press briefing with federal employee union leaders, Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., co-chair of the Congressional Federal Workforce Caucus, said lawmakers are targeting negotiations around government funding after the November elections.
The current continuing resolution expires Dec. 11, creating a window for Congress to address federal pay through appropriations legislation, an omnibus package, or another continuing resolution.
“We’re going to fight for as much as we can get as soon as we can get it,” Walkinshaw said. “The federal workers should know that this is going to be a fight, and there’s not a guaranteed outcome.”
“What we would love to see is action in November and December by the Congress, so that on January 1, workers can start to see that pay raise,” Walkinshaw added.
Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., another caucus co-chair, said Congress is scheduled to be in session for only two weeks in November before returning in December, leaving lawmakers with a limited window to reach an agreement.
“We have about a little over five or six weeks to get this done, and hopefully it will be done,” Hoyer said.
Hoyer also pushed back on describing the proposed adjustment as a raise, arguing that it would largely preserve workers’ purchasing power as prices increase.
“This is not a raise; it is a ‘keep even,’” Hoyer said. “It is what we do for Social Security recipients, what we do for other retirees, because we want to make sure their purchasing power does not disadvantage.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., another caucus co-chair, similarly said that freezing pay while costs continue to rise would effectively reduce federal employees’ purchasing power.
“It is a pay cut. It doesn’t even keep up with the cost of living, which is coming in around 3.4 percent,” Van Hollen said. “It’s essential that we stand up and make it clear that we won’t accept a pay cut for federal workers.”
The briefing comes after Walkinshaw, Hoyer, Van Hollen, and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, led a bipartisan, bicameral letter signed by 110 lawmakers urging congressional leaders to reject the pay freeze.
The coalition is seeking a 4.1% average pay increase included in the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, or at minimum the same 3.8% increase that the Trump administration proposed for federal law enforcement personnel. Walkinshaw and Schatz introduced the 2027 FAIR Act in February.
“If the law enforcement deserve a raise, so does the VA nurse at the [Department of Veterans Affairs],” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees. “Everyone deserves fairness and a decent pay adjustment.”
“Every member of Congress must reject the pay freeze and deliver a meaningful, competitive pay increase for federal employees in 2027,” added Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union. “Inaction is not an option.”
Congress has overridden a Trump pay freeze before. In 2019, lawmakers approved a 1.9% average federal pay increase after Trump initially froze civilian pay, with the increase made retroactive to Jan. 1, 2019.