House Appropriations Subcommittee Advances Bill Providing Federal Employees a Pay Raise, Rejecting OPM-GSA Merger

Alexandria, Va. (June 4, 2019) – In response to the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee passing a spending bill that seeks to provide federal employees with a 3.1 percent average pay raise in 2020 and blocks the administration from moving forward on its proposed merger of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the General Services Administration (GSA), NARFE National President Ken Thomas issued the following statement:

“In contrast to this administration, the subcommittee sees the value in providing federal employees with a pay raise to compensate them for the important work they do on behalf of our country. Though modest, this pay increase is a step in the right direction to retain and recruit a highly qualified and top-performing workforce. The 3.1 percent raise is in line with increases in the private-sector, and given our country’s strong economic growth, this raise shows our two million federal employees we value their contributions.

“NARFE also appreciates the subcommittee’s action to prevent the White House from politicizing the federal workforce by dismantling OPM and moving civil service policy to the Executive Office of the President. The administration has failed to make a compelling case for moving most of OPM to GSA, and we thank the subcommittee for recognizing this thinly veiled attempt to weaken merit system principles. NARFE urges both chambers of Congress to preserve the pay raise and maintain OPM and GSA as separate entities in their final legislation.”

Background   

The president’s budget request for fiscal year 2020 indicates the president’s intent to freeze federal pay for calendar year 2020. Without congressional action, the president retains the authority to determine annual adjustments to federal pay rates.

The House Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill includes a 2.6 percent across-the-board increase to federal pay rates, and a 0.5 percent average increase to locality pay rates. This 3.1 percent average increase is based on the most recent annual change in private-sector pay prior to the development of the president’s budget request, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Cost Index.

The bill also contains a total of $24.6 billion in discretionary spending for the Treasury Department, Judiciary and other agencies. The bill includes $339 million, an increase of $43.4 million, for OPM and would block the administration’s proposed merger of OPM with the General Services Administration (GSA) by denying any funds to carry out the reorganization or to enter into any new inter-agency agreements between GSA and OPM. Specifically, it states:

None of the funds made available by this Act or any other Act may be obligated or expended (1) to reorganize or transfer any function or authority of the Office of Personnel Management to the General Services Administration or the Office of Management and Budget; or (2) to enter into or carry out any outsourcing or interagency agreement between the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration not in effect before October 1, 2018.

About NARFE

The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) was founded in 1921 with the mission of protecting the earned rights and benefits of America’s active and retired federal workers. One of the largest federal employee/retiree organizations, NARFE represents the interests of 5 million current and future federal and postal annuitants, spouses and survivors.

CONTACT:
Jill Talley
NARFE Director of Public Relations
jtalley@narfe.org
(703) 838-7760