President Joe Biden is offering a lower pay raise to the federal workforce than previous years, which could frustrate his allies in the labor movement as his reelection campaign heats up.
The White House’s fiscal 2025 budget request proposes a 2 percent pay raise for government workers. That salary bump is smaller than previous hikes under the Biden administration, including this year’s increase of 5.2 percent, the largest pay raise for federal employees in more than four decades.
Biden has sought to champion the civil service, saying he had their back in a thank you note before his State of the Union address last week. But several agencies will face budget cuts this year under spending legislation moving on Capitol Hill, which could limit their ability to recruit and retain staff.
“The Budget includes a pay adjustment of 2.0 percent, building on significant increases in 2022, 2023 and 2024 while accounting for the fiscal constraints Federal agencies face in FY 2025,” Jason Miller, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, and Kiran Ahuja, director of the Office of Personnel Management, said in a blog post Monday.
