A 2.1% across-the-board pay raise that was set to take effect in January will now no longer happen, following through with a proposal President Donald Trump announced earlier in the year.
This comes after hundreds of thousands of federal employees are expecting to begin the new year furloughed or working without pay because of the partial government shutdown that is now on day ten. About 380,000 federal employees are on furlough and 420,000 are currently working without pay.
Trump initially told lawmakers in August that he planned to cancel the 2019 pay bump for federal workers because the "federal budget couldn't support it."
The executive order also cancels a yearly adjustment of paychecks based on the region of the country where workers are posted, called the "locality pay increase," that was due to take effect in January.
A pay raise for 2019 could be included in a spending bill to reopen the government, but negotiations are still ongoing because of disagreements between lawmakers and the president over funding for border security.
Read more at CNN.
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