President Obama on Friday formally notified Congress that he wants a 1 percent pay hike for federal workers next year, and a 1.3 percent increase for members of the military.
Obama notified Congress of his intentions in letters that said he wants those increases to take effect on the first day of January, 2016.
It would be the third 1 percent pay increase in a row for non-military federal workers. Their pay had been frozen in the first several years of the Obama administration.
Obama has the authority to adjust the pay of federal workers, although Congress has the authority to override those decisions through legislation. It’s possible Congress could decide to prevent the increases, or limit them further, as it considers a continuing spending resolution once members return to work next month.
However, Congress in the last few years has declined this option, and allowed 1 percent increases to take effect in 2014 and 2015.
Obama also said he would decide by November whether he would boost “locality payments” for federal workers, which could increase pay for workers in more expensive parts of the country by up to 1.3 percent, matching his proposed increase for military workers.
Still, that increase would still be dwarfed by the huge 3.9 percent increase federal workers got in 2009.
The White House did not forecast how much Obama’s cost, but last year’s hike of 1 percent cost about $2.5 billion, USA Today reported.
