The White House is expected to release the president’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2015 today.
The budget always contains proposals that would affect the federal workforce, and this year is no exception. Two key components that we know will be in the forthcoming budget relate to federal retirement and a pay raise for federal workers in 2015.
2015 Pay Raise
The president is proposing that federal workers get a 1% pay increase in 2015. When announced last week, federal employee unions and advocacy groups were quick to denounce the pay increase, using words such as “pitiful” and “insufficient” to describe the proposed raise. FedSmith.com users weighed in as well, having predicted the president would propose a 1% raise, but the majority of comments we have seen suggest most of our users agree with the unions and think the proposed pay increase should be higher.
Chained CPI
Perhaps some good news for federal employees is that we also know the budget will not include a chained CPI. Many groups are concerned that the use of such a measure would reduce federal retirement pensions. FedSmith.com author Robert Benson disagreed, however, saying that the loss under a chained CPI would not be as bad as has been publicized.
We will continue to update our site with the latest news surrounding the budget proposal as it becomes available.
