Biggest Pay Increase in 20 Years Coming for Federal Employees, Unions Complain It's Not Enough
Amid the historic inflation emblematic of Joe Biden’s failed presidency, federal employees will receive a pay raise, courtesy of the countless American taxpayers who are struggling to buy groceries.
In a letter to Congressional leaders on Wednesday, President Joe Biden authorized an average 4.6 percent pay hike for civilian federal employees that will take effect at the start of 2023.
It’s the biggest salary increase for civilian federal employees in 20 years, according to Government Executive.
In explaining why he approved the historic pay bump, Biden essentially admitted the country is in the throes of a “national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare.”
In response, federal employee unions complained the raise isn’t big enough and instead demanded a 5.1 percent average hike.
Tony Reardon, the president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said government workers deserve more money because of the crushing inflation ravaging the country.
“President Biden’s plan to provide an average 4.6 percent raise … for federal employees in 2023 would be the largest in 20 years and go a long way toward helping recruit and retain the public servants our government needs,” Reardon told Government Executive.
“However, NTEU earlier this year endorsed legislation for an average 5.1 percent increase because we believe rising costs of living and private sector wages warrant the larger raise.”
A 5.1 percent raise would put government salary increases on par with overall U.S. wages, which increased 5.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
However, a major difference is that government jobs are notoriously secure and not vulnerable to random layoffs or performance pressures the way private-sector jobs are.
During the coronavirus shutdowns, most government employees did not miss a single paycheck, even though millions of private-sector workers lost their incomes en masse.
Despite this, Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said federal workers should be paid more.
“The overall 4.6 percent pay raise issued by President Biden will represent the largest pay adjustment for federal employees in 20 years,” Kelley told Government Executive.
“However, in order to bring federal salaries close to market rates and compensate for the recent surge in inflation, more must be done.”
The union bosses are correct in noting that people need more money now because of the soaring inflation that has become the hallmark of Biden’s disastrous presidency.
However, federal pay increases are bankrolled by taxpayers, who have been given little relief amid the skyrocketing costs of gas, food, rent, electricity, cars, clothing and medical care.
If Biden wanted to give government workers a raise, he should have thought twice before forking around $55 billion in taxpayer money to Ukraine and rolling out his harebrained college-loan forgiveness plan.
MONEY LAUNDERING.??????
Biden will send ANOTHER $800 million in security aid to Ukraine as soon as Friday, Reuters reports.
This will bring the total of U.S. aid sent to Ukraine since the start of the war to roughly $55 billion.?
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) August 18, 2022
“President Biden’s federal student loan forgiveness plan will cost U.S. taxpayers between $440 and $600 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.” Faux outrage? This is real. #NHPolitics https://t.co/qG8UjpoFup pic.twitter.com/N2QBWUinsL
— New Hampshire Republican Party (@NHGOP) August 25, 2022
Like other Democrats, Biden doesn’t seem to realize there’s only so much OPM (Other People’s Money) to go around.
But he’ll find out soon enough when the U.S. plunges into a crippling recession on his watch.
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