Trump to cut pay raises for government workers

[TomCADem]

Source: MSN/The Hill

President Trump sent a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday announcing his intention to cut pay raises for civilian government workers.

In the letter, Trump cited his authority in times of "national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare" to make adjustments to the 2018 pay schedule for federal employees.

Under the previous plan, workers were scheduled for a 1.9 percent bump. Trump will use his authority to lower that to 1.4 percent.

"We must maintain efforts to put our Nation on a sustainable fiscal course," Trump wrote.

Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-to-cut-pay-raises-for-government-workers/ar-AAr3DUV?li=BBnb7Kz

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Wow. Even as Trump bills the federal government, including the Secret Service that protects him, to facilitate his lavish lifestyle, Trump demands that civil servants take a pay cut in the midst of the economic boom that he brags about. Likewise, while he brags about the federal response to Harvey, he busily takes money out of the pockets of those people saving thousands of lives.

So, do they get a raise for a job well done? Nope. They get a pay cut, because everyone needs to sacrifice...to fund his tax cuts.

[SummerSnow]

1. There goes that 'winning' again

[Angry Dragon]

2. "national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare"

he should be forced to list emergency or serious economic conditions
I guess he has been lying because he has said things were good

[Tanuki]

10. He wants to build his f'ing vanity wall by stiffing civil servants.

He seems to think they work for *him* and he has a long history of stealing services of any worker he can steal from.

[Angry Dragon]

13. I wonder if the plan is to put Trump Motels every 100 miles along the wall??

[BadgerMom]

29. I thought the same thing.

What national emergency? What serious economic condition? These are reasonable questions about outrageous statements. If everything's as rosy as he paints it, why would this make any sense? If he can decide on his own that the nation is in a state of emergency of some kind and claim extraordinary powers, our representatives must demand an explanation. Push back, please! Outrage on the Dem blog isn't enough. What can be done?

[Chemisse]

32. He probably thinks Hurricane Harve gives him a green light to do this.

More money for the 'Wall'.

[Freethinker65]

3. Deconstruction of the administrative state proceeding as planned

[sharedvalues]

16. Deconstruction of government and society, you mean

Deconstruction of government
Deconstruction of American society
- Government is the way we act as a society to achieve societal goals.

Don't use "administrative state" - that's a word that has bad connotations and helps the GOP.

"Government" "society" "state" - these words are all better.

[mobeau69]

4. Another dumb ass move he didn't have to make.

Seriously, he's down to just two groups left to piss off; the Klan and the Nazis.

Keep it up ass hole, you're doing just fine.

[sharedvalues]

17. You won't like Charles Blow's oped today

Keeping the Klan and the Nazis is the point:

How do you raise an army?

You do that by dividing America into tribes and, as “president,” aligning yourself with the most extreme tribe, all the while promoting militarization among people who support you.

Trump is playing an endgame. In the best-case scenario, these die-hards are future customers; in the worst, they are future confederates.

If these people should come to believe — as Trump would have them believe — that establishment systems have unfairly and conspiratorially acted to remove from office their last and only champion — another thing Trump would have them believe — what will they do?

What would Trump’s army do if he were compelled to leave but refused to graciously comply?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/opinion/trump-harvey-storm-army.html

[longship]

31. This should be an OP, if it isn't already.

Thanks!

[SHRED]

5. This is the thanks civil servants get for helping in Texas

Fucker.

[elleng]

6. No surprise.

Sad history of federal pay raises.

* the last really, really big raise you got was 2.9 percent. And that was in 2009. After that the 2010 raise was 1.5 percent followed by goose egg (as in nothing) in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Three years, no pay raises. The non-raise in 2013 was followed by a 1 percent increase in 2014, another 1 percent in 2015 and yet another 1 percent last January. Some people got a bit more, thanks to locality pay, but not much more.'>>>

https://federalnewsradio.com/federal-report/2016/05/sad-history-of-federal-pay-raises/

[sharedvalues]

18. It's destroying the federal pay scale and decreasing effectiveness of our government.

People are being moved up the GS level just to get them more pay. And there's a limit at the top. Good people are leaving.

[BigmanPigman]

23. That is more than teachers in San Diego got for 5 straight years.

In fact we were told to be grateful to not get a pink slip and have double health insur costs. Also, we lose money we already paid into Social Security (SS offset) before entering teaching as well as no paid disability insur. through our employer. We pay for our own pension and no "double dipping" either. It isn't only the "poor uneducated, middle America 45 voters" who have to deal with this reality. There is a difference however. We do not use it as an excuse to make idiotic choices when we elect our reps and bitch and complain about the elite who are ripping us off.

[brooklynite]

7. In fairness, he's NOT ordering a "pay cut", he's limiting a pay increase

[SergeStorms]

9. Nothing is "fair"...

where Trump is concerned. Nothing.

[brooklynite]

11. Unless you propose to be a bad as he is, I'll have to expect a higher level of accuracy.

[Tanuki]

14. If the pay raise was a COLA (cost of living adjustment),

the overall effect would be reducing their relative income/economic standing. With the prospect of a steep rise in gas and its cascading effect (e.g., higher gas prices adding to the cost of trucked goods), none of which was factored into the orginal COLA, this will be even more disadvantageous and demoralizing.

[sharedvalues]

19. Not in real dollars. In nominal dollars.

In real dollars, a 0% raise would be a cut - because inflation reduces what a dollar can buy. Hence COLAs.

[SHRED]

20. That sounds like Republican talk

[Midnight Writer]

24. Exactly. If I tell you I will pay you $5000 and I give you $4000, that is not a "cut". R U kidding?

[Major Nikon]

27. He ordered a pay cut

Had he done nothing their pay would be 1/2 % higher, which can be quite significant over a career, so it's actually far worse than simply cutting a fixed amount for one year.

[SergeStorms]

8. Just when I think......

Trump is a total asshole, he comes up with something else that can be added to his sum total. As the old joke goes, I guess there's just no end to this prick.

[benld74]

12. Well crap!! There goes my trip to the Maldives

[Angry Dragon]

15. Well,Trump is offering free trips to Death Valley

[Grassy Knoll]

21. Trump,Trump,Trump!!!!!

LOL, Idiots.

[PatSeg]

22. What a fucking asshole

He seems to be trying very hard to make everyone hate him.

[keithbvadu2]

25. Isn't he bragging about all the jobs he is creating?

[C Moon]

26. If the Repugs treated their own bank accounts

the way they treat the U.S.'s money, they would all be standing on the corners with signs.
Who the hell does Trump think he's kidding? He just wants more money for his upcoming war machine.

[jalan48]

28. This from the guy who is on track to spend more taxpayer dollars on weekend vacations/golf in one

year than Obama spent in eight years.

[JDC]

30. He's got walls and tax cuts for the rich to fund

Wonder what the rate of congressional wage/salary increase has been over the last several years.

This is what winning looks like I guess.

[BumRushDaShow]

33. What a fucking fucker

Feds (including myself until this year) had 3 years WITHOUT any increase due to the Great Recession... and a couple more years of measly increases (generally 1% + fractions of a % for locality pay) after that. The Pay Comparability Act keeps getting shoved aside as fake "economic emergencies" get touted as the reason.

Because of Harvey, the federal civil servants will be working for years to deal with this catastrophe across many agencies not being mentioned in the news and he just told them fuck you.

[Hugin]

34. The latest outrage.

I bet if he could have cut it all, He would have.

I guess no Feds are going to be buying any fucking $40 Dolt45 hats.

[jxla]

35. Writer must be new to covering federal pay issues

Last edited Fri Sep 1, 2017, 02:26 PM - Edit history (1)

Fortunately for federal employees,Trump's letter does not say what the writer thinks it does. I see he updated the article at 1:21 pm today, but he is still confused about locality pay. OPM has a handy calculator that lets you see how much difference there ibetween locality pay areas.
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2017/general-schedule-gs-salary-calculator/

https://federalnewsradio.com/your-money/2017/08/trump-sets-2018-pay-raise-for-federal-employees/
Most civilian federal employees will receive an average raise of 1.4 percent, with an additional 0.5 percent adjusted in locality pay for a total of a 1.9 percent.

https://www.fedsmith.com/2017/08/31/president-proposes-1-9-average-2018-federal-employee-raise/
President Trump has now issued the letter that verified his intent to move forward with an average raise in 2018 of 1.9%. In this letter, President Trump wrote:

"I have determined that for 2018, across-the-board pay increases will be 1.4 percent and locality pay increases will average 0.5 percent, resulting in an overall average increase of 1.9 percent for civilian Federal employees. I will specify locality pay percentages for each locality pay area by Executive Order before the first pay period in January 2018. These decisions will not materially affect our ability to attract and retain a well-qualified Federal workforce."

For those who pay close attention to this issue, you may recall that the average pay raise for 2018 amounts to 1.9%, as previously announced, and not 1.4%. The difference is locality pay. An additional amount of 0.5% was allocated to locality pay for 2018. The actual percentage of the 2018 raise will vary between different locality pay areas. The actual amount of the raise in locality pay areas may not be disclosed until December.

[jmowreader]

36. There is a national emergency but Trump will do nothing about it

We have an insane Stalin wannabe in the White House.

[Bengus81]

37. Again,looking under couch cushions for ANYTHING to cut

for his tax cuts for the RICH. This POS will GUT anything and everything to help pay for them. A "fiscal course" Donnie is to keep requiring that the ultra rich pay their FAIR SHARE.