(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) joined Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Operations Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA) and eight bipartisan Members of Congress in sending a letter to House Appropriators urging them to match the 2021 pay increase for civilian federal employees to the raise given to service men and women proposed in the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. Currently, members of the military are set to receive a 3.0% pay increase, compared to the 1.0% increase for civilian federal workers detailed in President Trump’s budget proposal.

“Included in the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is a 3.0 percentage pay increase for our service men and women. As in previous years, we support the biggest pay increase possible for our military members,”  the members wrote. “We also want to note that with very few exceptions Congress has maintained pay parity with respect to pay raises for military and civilian federal employees. We write to ask that this pay parity continue – particularly in light of the continued work of our federal employees throughout a global pandemic.”

In January 2019, the House passed the bipartisan Federal Civilian Workforce Pay Raise Fairness Act. And in the bipartisan funding deal reached last December, Congress once again provided for pay parity between our federal civilian employees and service members. Connolly is also the original cosponsor of the FAIR Act, which would provide federal employees a 3.5% pay increase in 2021. 

Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), John Sarbanes (D-MD), David Trone (D-MD), Anthony Brown (D-MD), Don Beyer (D-VA), Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) also signed the letter.

Full text of the letter is available here.

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