Austin American-Statesman: Trump cancels pay raise federal workers were to get in January

WASHINGTON —President Donald Trump informed Congress on Thursday that he is canceling pay raises due in January for most civilian federal employees, citing budget constraints. But the workers still could see a slightly smaller boost in their pay under a proposal lawmakers are considering.

Trump said he was axing a 2.1 percent across-the-board raise for most workers as well as locality pay increases — an annual pay adjustment based on the region where an employee works — that he said averaged 25.7 percent and cost $25 billion.

"We must maintain efforts to put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and Federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases," Trump said in a letter to Congress. The president last year signed a package of tax cuts that is forecast to expand the deficit by about $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

One union leader in Austin called the decision frustrating.

"We've put in many millions and millions of dollars that were given up since the economy went bad 10 years ago," said Eddie Walker, president of a local National Treasury Employees Union chapter, which represents federal workers across numerous departments and agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the National Park Service. "We've done more than our share. Now that the economy is better, we deserve a raise."

Walker's chapter represents about 1,500 federal workers, but it wasn't immediately clear how many people in Central Texas would be affected by the president's decision.

Officials at the LBJ Presidential Library at the University of Texas said they heard about Trump's announcement but did not have further details. Recently, their focus has been on meeting the administration's directive to trim staff positions and preparing for a possible government shutdown this fall, said Kyle Longley, the library's director.

"We're just in the planning stages," he said. "We're hoping for the best but planning for the worst."

Trump cited the "significant" cost of employing federal workers as justification for denying the pay increases, and called for federal worker pay to be based on performance and structured toward recruiting, retaining and rewarding "high-performing Federal employees and those with critical skill sets."

Under the law, the 2.1 percent raise takes effect automatically unless the president and Congress act to change it. Congress is currently debating a proposal for a slightly lower, 1.9 percent across-the-board raise to be included in a government funding bill that would require Trump's signature to keep most government functions operating past September.

Many Democratic lawmakers criticized the announcement, including U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Austin, who said Trump treats federal workers like "a punching bag."

"With one action after another, he demonizes public servants, who assure Social Security and Medicare, public health, tax collection, law enforcement, civilian support of our military, care for veterans and other vital services," Doggett said in a statement Thursday. "These workers face the same price hikes for food and housing as other members of our community. Republicans borrowed money to shower billionaires with huge, unjustified tax breaks, but refuse to accord valued federal employees even a modest cost of living adjustment."

In July, the Trump administration sharply revised upward its deficit estimates compared with the estimates in the budget proposal it sent Congress in February. The worsening deficit reflects the impact of the $1.5 trillion, 10-year tax cut, as well as increased spending for the military and domestic programs that Congress approved this year.

The administration's July budget update projected a deficit of $890 million for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, up from the February estimate of $873 billion. The $890 billion deficit projection represents a 34 percent increase from the $666 billion deficit the government recorded in 2017.

For 2019, the administration is projecting the deficit will once again top $1 trillion and stay at that level for the next three years.

The only other period when the federal government ran deficits above $1 trillion was during the four years from 2009 through 2012, when the government used tax cuts and increased spending to combat the 2008 fiscal crisis and the worst economic downturn since the 1930s.

Walker said the Trump administration targets departments and agencies that don't have his favor. For those that Trump likes, "there is no emergency," Walker said. "There is no sacrifice required."

"We've been kicked around the block a lot," he said, "and we're all patriotic people, and we believe we represent the public and do it with a high degree of quality and enthusiasm."