Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) have co-sponsored a bill that seeks to raise the salaries of federal civilian workers by 3.3 percent next year, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Josh Hicks writes the two senators introduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates Act to help compensate for three years of frozen pay.
“Our federal employees bore the brunt of the sequester, enduring furloughs and a three-year pay freeze,†Schatz said in a statement, according to the Post.
J. David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, believes the bill aims to “help federal employees recoup some of that lost income and ensure the government is able to recruit and retain the high-caliber workers that taxpayers expect.â€
The White House put feds’ annual salary hike on hold from 2011 to 2012 and Congress approved a measure to extend the pay freeze until 2013.
Civilian staff continued to receive performance-based incentives during that time, according to Hicks.