The Trump administration, after announcing slashes in spending across much of the government, is reportedly recommending a 1.9 percent pay raise for federal workers.
The Washington Post reported the hike will take effect in January 2018; any increase is subject to approval by Congress.
An unnamed senior budget official told the Post that agencies have been told by the White House to build the 1.9 percent raise for civilian workers into their spending plans for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
The proposed budget released last week made no mention of a raise, but a more detailed plan is expected in May, the Post reported.
Federal employee unions called the raise stingy, and some conservatives were taken by surprise.
"While it's good that the White House recognizes the need to raise wages for federal employees, [a 1.9 percent pay raise] is far below what's called for under the law," J. David Cox Sr., national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union, said in a statement.
"Federal employees earn less today than they did at the start of the decade when adjusted for inflation, and they deserve a more meaningful increase to make up for the more than $182 billion in cuts to their pay and benefits that have occurred since 2010."
The libertarian Cato Institute's director of tax policy studies called the raise "surprising," the Post reported.
But, "for his first year, a raise was expected," Rachel Greszler, a research fellow in economics and budget affairs at the Heritage Foundation, said of the plan. "We look forward to more significant changes in a year."
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