Senior Trump administration officials will receive raises of about $10,000 this year, even as hundreds of thousands of federal workers are still going without pay because of the partial government shutdown.
The pay raises for Cabinet secretaries, deputy secretaries, top administrators, and Vice President Mike Pence will go into effect Saturday since there is no legislation to stop it, the Washington Post reported.
When lawmakers were unable to agree on a bill to fund several federal agencies on Dec. 21, an existing pay freeze lapsed and a pay cap for these workers will expire by Jan. 5. Since the cap for federal executives have not be renewed yet, raises will kick in that have accumulated over the years that previously weren’t allowed to take effect.
For example, Pence’s pay will go from $230,700 to $243,500 when the freeze expires Saturday.
About 800,000 federal employees are currently going without pay as the government shutdown enters its second week. Nine agencies ran out of funding the Friday before Christmas when lawmakers and Trump were at an impasse over border wall funding.
A little less than half of those workers affected by the government shutdown have been furloughed.
