Schatz, Connolly Introduce Legislation To Give Federal Workers Pay Raise
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) reintroduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, a bill that would provide federal employees with a 4.3 percent pay increase in calendar year 2026. Schatz and Connolly previously introduced similar legislation in the 115th, 116th, 117th, and 118th congresses.
For more than a decade, federal employees have endured government shutdowns, pay freezes, hiring freezes, and lost pay as a result of sequestration-related furloughs. The FAIR Act’s wage adjustment restores years of lost wage increases for federal employees by ensuring that federal employees, who serve in all 50 states on behalf of constituents in every congressional district, earn an average pay increase of 4.3 percent.
“Whether it’s inspecting our food, conducting medical research, or caring for veterans, federal workers play an important role in our daily lives and deserve pay that reflects that,” said Senator Schatz. “Our bill boosts wages to keep public service jobs competitive with those in the private sector and maintain a strong and talented federal workforce.”
“The federal workforce is our country’s single greatest asset,” said Ranking Member Connolly. “Even after serving dutifully through a global pandemic and enduring the Trump Administration’s cruel personal attacks, unsafe work environments, pay freezes, government shutdowns, sequestration cuts, furloughs, and mindless across-the-board hiring freezes, they come to work every day in service to the American people. As we prepare for another Trump Administration and its impact on our civil servants, it is only right that they be compensated fairly. We must also keep in mind that the success of the federal workforce depends on our ability to remain competitive with the private sector. For too long, and to our own detriment, we have tolerated underinvestment in the patriots who keep the federal government up and running. To ensure we can attract the best and brightest this country has to offer, we must offer compensation that more closely keeps up with private employers. The FAIR Act takes us a step closer to that goal.”
Despite recent pay increases for federal employees under the Biden administration – 4.6 percent in 2024, 5.2 percent in 2024, and 2 percent in 2025 – wages continue to lag behind the rising cost of living. In 2023, federal employees earned roughly 27 percent less on average than employees in the private sector, according to the Federal Salary Council.
In addition to Schatz, the FAIR Act is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai‘i), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
The text of the bill is available here.
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