Legislation was introduced last week to formally block the automatic pay raises set to go into effect for senior officials in the Trump administration. The pay raises were set to take effect because of the expiration of a provision in a law that Congress did not take action to remove. Vice President Mike Pence is one of the individuals who would have received a pay increase.
The bill is known as the No Political Pay Raises During the Shutdown Act (H.R. 503) and was introduced by Congressman Bradley Schneider (D-IL).
“Federal workers are already bearing the brunt of President Trump’s shutdown. Doling out raises to political appointees in the Administration while working families go without pay just adds insult to injury,” said Schneider. “Our bill makes sure that senior staff are not rewarded with raises while the Administration’s inaction perpetuates a shutdown that keeps hard-working federal employees without pay.”
The Office of Personnel Management has already issued guidance in which it said that agencies should continue to pay the officials at the same rate in light of the shutdown. The bill is therefore largely a formality to block the pay raises during the ongoing partial government shutdown.
