Obama's pay freeze
for federal workers
only limits raises
Updated 10h 45m ago
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
Many federal workers would still get pay raises the
next two years despite the limited salary freeze
President Obama proposed this week for 2.2 million
government employees.
The president's proposal, if approved by Congress,
would stop across-the-board pay hikes set for
January 2011 and January 2012.
But many federal workers will receive other pay
hikes — longevity increases (called steps),
promotions in grade, bonuses, overtime and other
cash payments.
Most federal employees are ranked at a General
Schedule (GS) grade from 1 to 15, and each grade
has 10 steps within it.
MONDAY: Obama proposes freeze on federal pay
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Step raises are largely automatic, based on
longevity, but merit can hasten a step pay raise or
even move a worker up multiple steps. Not every
worker gets a step raise every year, but the raises
average about 2% per year for workers as a group.
Ronald Reagan in 1986 was the last president to
freeze across-the-board pay hikes. Bill Clinton tried
in 1994, but Congress said no.
The federal government would save $2 billion in the
first year and an estimated $28 billion over five
years under the limited freeze, Obama says.
Democrat Erskine Bowles and former senator Alan
Simpson, R-Wyo., chairmen of the federal deficit
reduction commission appointed by Obama, favor a
broader freeze on federal pay — stopping all pay
hikes for three years, including step raises and
bonuses. The commission says the move would
save more than double what Obama is calling for.
The proposals anger leaders of federal worker
groups who say that the savings represent only a
tiny fraction of total federal debt now pegged at
$13.7 trillion.
"Our people are upset," says Jessica Klement of the
Federal Managers Association. She says federal pay
must keep pace with that of the private sector.
James Sherk, a labor analyst at the conservative
Heritage Foundation, says pay freezes are needed
but the better long-term solution is basing the
federal pay system on merit, not longevity.
