Congress Report: 2021 Federal Pay Raise & Proposed Budget

               The White House releases a budget proposal annually around February to provide a guideline or “blueprint” for congress. The document outlines the goals of the executive branch and suggests ways to fiscally achieve it. While the Trump 2018 budget suggested wildly changing the landscape of Federal agencies and their employees’ benefits, this proposal does not include such proposals as: terminating the social security supplement, changing the “high-3” to a “high-5,” and increasing the percentage an employee contributes to FERS. These recommendations, along with an odd proposition to merge OPM with the GSA. (In a similar vein, though, the 2021 budget blueprint recommends moving the Secret Service from the Department of Homeland Security to the Treasury Department.)

While some of the items in the current administration’s prior budgets never became reality, there are some that did. NASA and the military have received budgetary increases, and more of the same was recommended for 2021. Cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and similar government programs are also a mainstay. The Trump team has insisted that the beneficiaries of these social safety nets will not beimpacted, but only bow the programs themselves pay healthcare providers.

 Meanwhile, Democratic representatives in Congress introduced a bill that would give Federal employees an across-the-board pay increase of 3.5% for 2021. A practically identical bill was offered up to the House of Representatives last year, except with a 3.6% salary raise for feds. Despite not passing, a 3.1% raise with locality pay (2.6% across the board) did make it to fruition.

Until Next Time,