Obama asks for fed pay freeze

President Obama proposed a two-year salary freeze for 2.1 million federal workers.

With deficit reduction increasingly dominating debate in Washington, President Obama this week proposed a two-year salary freeze for 2.1 million federal workers. “Getting this deficit under control is going to require some broad sacrifices,” Obama said. The freeze would exempt uniformed military personnel, Congress, defense contractors, postal workers, and judges. Other federal workers would forego automatic raises, but not bonuses or promotion raises. The freeze would save $2 billion this fiscal year, a minimal cut in the government’s $1.3 trillion deficit. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, whose union strongly backed Obama’s election, denounced the freeze in a statement: “No one is served by our government participating in a ‘race to the bottom’ in wages,” he said.

Obama made the proposal before meeting with Republican congressional leaders in the Oval Office this week, and against the backdrop of think tank and commission reports on deficit reduction. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Republican Leader John Boehner, who is designated to be the next speaker of the House, reached no substantive agreements with Obama in the meeting, but all agreed on a framework for prompt discussions on the fate of Bush-era tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of this month.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More