Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate this week by Brian Schatz (D-HI) to give federal workers a 5.3% pay raise rather than the 1.6% raise proposed by the White House.
Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) introduced legislation last month in the House to give federal employees a 5.3% pay raise in 2017. The 5.3% figure is, not coincidentally, the same figure that AFGE said federal employees are owed.
Schatz’s bill (S. 2699) is co-sponsored by Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
If this process sounds familiar, it is because you have seen it before. Last year, Schatz and Connolly teamed up to introduce legislation to give federal employees a 3.8% pay raise rather than the 1.3% the White House had proposed. And the year before that, Connolly’s bill was for a 3.3% raise. Ultimately, however, these bills did not pass and federal employees got raises as recommended by the president: 1% in 2015 and 1.3% in 2016.
Will it be different this year? The answer to that question will not come until later this year, but given the way the process has played out in the past, it’s unlikely this bill will pass.
