House and Senate Democrats are asking the White House for a larger 2025 pay pay raise than it planned to authorize than for civilian federal employees.
In a letter sent to the White House Wednesday, twenty-two Democrats called for pay parity between civilian and military personnel.
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“We believe it is imperative you revise your budget to align military and civilian employee pay raises,” the group wrote.
In August, the White House announced its alternative play plan for 2025 giving most civilian federal employees a 2% pay raise to start in January. Military personnel are likely to receive a 4.5% raise for 2025.
The group of lawmakers — led by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA), and Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD) — urged the White House to revise its pay plan to match the 4.5% raise recommended for the uniformed military.
“Although you submitted an alternative pay plan in August, it continued to support a differential pay increase: 4.5% for military employees and 2% for civilian employees,” the lawmakers wrote. “This deviation between military and civilian employee pay increases upends historic bipartisan support for pay parity across the federal workforce. Although we understand this decision was made under the constraints put in place by the Fiscal Responsibility Act caps, we believe it is imperative you revise your budget to align military and civilian employee pay raises.”
“Our nation’s service members and civilian employees both work tirelessly to keep us safe and run the critical operations of the government,” lawmakers wrote. “By aligning military and civilian pay raises for 2025, you will recognize the efforts of the entire federal workforce.”
“Our request is grounded in longstanding tradition and precedent,” they wrote. “For example, on Dec. 8, 2016, President Barack Obama submitted an alternative federal pay plan to Congress that increased the federal civilian pay raise to the same level as military employees. We implore you to move swiftly to submit a revised alternative pay plan that supports our entire federal workforce.”
The final pay raise tables are usually released in December of each year from the Office of Personnel Management.