The White House said Friday it’s looking for ways to prevent senior Trump administration officials from getting pay raises of approximately $10,000 during the partial government shutdown, in which hundreds of thousands of federal workers are not being paid.
“This is another unnecessary byproduct of the shutdown,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Friday. “The administration is aware of the issue, and we’re exploring options to prevent this from being implemented while some federal workers are furloughed. Congress can easily take care of this by funding the government and securing our borders.”
Earlier Friday, President Trump was pressed by reporters on whether he would encourage the officials not to accept the raise, at lease while the partial shutdown was still in effect.
“I might consider that,” Trump said. “You know, that’s something I may consider. That’s a very good question.”
The Washington Post reported Friday morning that pay raises for Cabinet secretaries, deputy secretaries, top administrators, and Vice President Mike Pence were slated to take effect on Saturday, since there was no legislation to halt a pay cap that is set to expire on Jan. 5.
Normally, Congress would pass a spending bill to prevent long-scheduled pay raises to take effect. But because there’s no agreement on a spending bill for several federal agencies, Congress hasn’t moved to override the pay raise.
Approximately 800,000 federal employees have not been paid as a result of the partial shutdown, and about half of those employees have been furloughed.
