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Washington D.C. – A House subcommittee has deferred to President Biden’s plan to give federal employees a 2.7 percent pay increase in 2022, but Congress or the White House can still act on the average 3.2 percent increase that the National Treasury Employees Union has endorsed.  

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government today approved a funding bill for fiscal year 2022 that is silent on federal pay, letting the White House proposal stand, for now.  

“Certainly the White House’s 2.7 percent proposal is a welcome start to the debate over what federal employees deserve next year, but there is plenty of time for the administration and Congress to reconsider and give frontline federal workers an average 3.2 percent,” National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon said. 

The administration’s proposal makes no mention of locality pay, which is when a portion of the pay raise is targeted to the parts of the country with higher living costs. According to the Federal Employee Pay Comparability Act, federal employees should receive a 2.2 percent pay increase in 2022 before locality pay is added. 

Congress can pass the NTEU-endorsed FAIR Act (H.R. 392/S. 561), which includes a 2.2 percent across-the-board increase plus 1 percent for locality pay or the president can make that adjustment in his Alternative Pay Plan Memo due by Sept. 1.

“Federal employee pay has not kept pace with rising costs over the past few years and the gap between salaries in the private sector and federal government remains too large,” Reardon said. “A 3.2 percent average pay hike is an acknowledgment of their commitment to public service and a step in the right direction toward closing the pay gap that harms the government’s efforts in recruiting and retaining talented employees.” 

The Federal Salary Council has reported that federal government workers make on average 23.11 percent less than their counterparts in the private sector.   

NTEU represents employees in 34 federal agencies and offices.