Should Federal Employees Receive a 3.6% Pay Increase in 2020? (H.R. 1073)

What is H.R. 1073?

(Updated April 7, 2021)

This bill — the FAIR Act — would increase the basic pay rate for federal employees by 3.6 percent in calendar year 2020 and fiscal year 2020.

This bill’s full title is the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates Act.

Argument in favor

Federal employees were held hostage to politics during the partial government shutdown. They deserve to be treated better and get paid more for their service to the federal government and the American public. A 3.6% raise for 2020 would reward these loyal public servants for their service.

Argument opposed

There’s already a schedule for determining pay raises for federal government employees. Additionally, the president has discretion to determine whether federal employees should receive pay increases. Given these considerations, there’s no reason for Congress to weigh in on federal employee pay.

Impact

Federal employees; and the federal budget.

Cost of H.R. 1073

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) reintroduced this bill from the 115th Congress to provide federal employees with a 3.6 percent pay increase in 2020:

“Federal employees are patriots, not pawns. Yet for 35 days the federal workforce was held hostage by the President. We have a responsibility to make sure these public servants know that we respect the dignity of their work. The FAIR Act is a demonstration of our commitment to reversing years of pay freezes, furloughs, and Trump Shutdowns.”

When he reintroduced this bill in the 115th Congress in January 2017, Rep. Connolly argued that Republicans have unfairly made civil servants “the scapegoat for all our country’s problems” and forced them to endure “a three-year wage freeze; five years without locality pay; wage-reducing furloughs, sequester cuts, a government shutdown, a federal hiring freeze, the reinstatement of the Armageddon Rule, and… more than $182 billion in pay and benefit cuts, all in the name of deficit reduction.”

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) supports this bill. AFGE National President J. David Cox says:

"AFGE thanks Congressman Connolly and Senator Schatz for their leadership in introducing the FAIR Act. From the shutdown to union-busting executive orders to his efforts to freeze salaries, federal employees have taken a beating. It’s time to show them that America appreciates their hard work and dedication and nothing says that more clearly than a decent pay raise. The 3.6% is well-deserved and our nation can well afford it.”

This bill has 25 Democratic cosponsors. Its Senate companion bill has 13 Democratic cosponsors. It has the support of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), and National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). In the past, when Rep. Connolly has introduced this same bill with slightly different raise percentages, additional groups have also supported this type of legislation. Those groups include the Federal Managers Association (FMA), National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), Senior Executives Association (SEA), and others.

In January 2019, the House passed Rep. Connolly’s Federal Civilian Pay Raise Fairness Act of 2019, which would provide federal employees a 2.6 percent pay raise for the remainder of 2019. That bill passed the House by a 259-161 vote with the support of 26 Democratic cosponsors. Sen. Schatz is a cosponsor of the Senate companion of that bill, which was introduced by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) with the support of 20 bipartisan cosponsors, including 18 Democrats, one Republican, and one Independent (including Sen. Schatz).

Of Note: In August 2018, President Trump announced a freeze in federal civilian pay for 2019 in his FY19 budget proposal, after the House and Senate had agreed to a 1.9 percent pay increase. In making that announcement, Trump said:

“I have determined that for 2019, both across the board pay increases and locality pay increases will be set at zero. These alternative pay plan decisions will not materially affect our ability to attract and retain a well qualified Federal workforce… Under current law, locality pay increases averaging 25.70 percent, costing $25 billion, would go into effect in January 2019, in addition to a 2.1 percent across-the-board increase for the base General Schedule. We must maintain efforts to put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and Federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases. In light of our Nation’s fiscal situation, Federal employee pay must be performance-based, and aligned strategically toward recruiting, retaining, and rewarding high-performing Federal employees and those with critical skill sets. Across-the-board pay increases and locality pay increases, in particular, have long-term fixed costs, yet fail to address existing pay disparities or target mission critical recruitment and retention goals.”

Trump added that he’s authorized, under current law, to implement alternative plans for pay adjustments for civilian federal employees if he, as president, determines pay increases as “inappropriate” in light of national emergency or serious economic conditions. Generally, presidents may suggest pay raises that override the statutory formula that would otherwise automatically determine increases in federal employees’ pay. Congress can override the president’s plans.

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) Press Release
  
• Meritalk
  
• Countable (Related Bill)