Congressmen Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Sean Casten (D-IL) introduced legislation Friday — the No Political Pay Raises During Shutdown Act — to block pay raises for senior officials in the Trump administration during a government shutdown.
According to a statement on Schneider’s website, despite hundreds of thousands of federal employees currently working without pay or under furlough, $10,000 raises were set to go in to effect for senior administration officials, including Cabinet secretaries, deputy secretaries, top administrators, and Vice President Pence.
“Federal workers are already bearing the brunt of President Trump’s shutdown. Doling out raises to political appointees in the Administration while working families go without pay just adds insult to injury,” said Schneider. “Our bill makes sure that senior staff are not rewarded with raises while the Administration’s inaction perpetuates a shutdown that keeps hard-working federal employees without pay.”
“The idea that the President’s senior political staff would be handed a raise during a government shutdown when thousands of federal employees are not getting their deserved paychecks is insulting,” said Casten. “This bill ensures the President’s senior political appointees are not rewarded while hardworking public servants and others hurt by the shutdown are forced to worry about paying the mortgage and putting food on the table.”
The full text of the bill is here.