President Donald Trump (Photo: Drew Angerer)

WASHINGTON – In the context of the current partial closure of the government, President Donald Trump signed an order of 39, execution aimed at freezing the wages of federal workers in 2019.

This decision is consistent with Trump's budget proposal and an opinion to Congress in August when he quotes "serious economic conditions "in reducing the wages of civilian workers. "We must continue our efforts to put our country on a financially viable path, and the budgets of the federal agencies can not support such increases," he said at the time.

Trump signed the executive order late Friday afternoon. The army would not be affected.

Trump and federal legislators still collect paychecks during the partial closure, but many federal employees are not. Congress generally votes to pay federal employees retroactively after the stops, but this is expected to continue into the new year as Trump seeks funding for a wall on the southern border.

(Trump pays his salary to various government programs.)

"It's all about pouring salt on the wound," said Tony Reardon, president of the National Union of Treasury Employees, who represents 150,000 employees in 33 federal departments and agencies. . "It's shocking that federal employees are suffering another financial hard blow. As if missed paychecks and work without pay were not enough, they are now told that they do not even deserve a modest salary increase.

The Senate passed a 1.9% increase for federal workers, but the House did not act.

The new Congress could vote to give an increase to federal employees. If Trump's decision is upheld, the pay freeze would affect about 2.1 million federal employees, most of whom are members of the executive, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union of federal employees .

Congress will adopt the modest 1.9% adjustment for the entire year 2019, which was passed by the Senate and received substantial support from both parties at the last Congress, "said J. David Cox, President of AFGE, in a statement. "There is no economic or budgetary justification for the President's freeze and legislators agree that federal salaries must increase not only decently, but also to help agencies attract and retain federal workforce that America deserves. "

Federal employees work outside the metropolitan area of ​​Washington, DC, according to the latest figures released by Governing magazine. At the top of the list of states with the largest number of federal employees: California (250,000), Texas (200,000), Virginia (178,000) and Maryland (147,000).

Contribution: Gregory Korte

Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/29/trump-moves-freeze-pay-f Federal-workers-amid-shutdown / 2439801002 /