No pay raise for federal employees: Trump

The United States president Donald Trump on Thursday told the Senators that he wants to scrap the pay raise for the federal workers.

In the letter he wrote to the House and the lawmakers, Trump said that the pay raise is "inappropriate", suggesting that the nation's budget cannot support it, reported CNN.

Trump wrote, "We must maintain efforts to put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and Federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases."

He further revealed that for 2019, both across the board pay increases and locality pay increases will be set at zero.

Earlier a pay hike of 2.1 per cent for the federal employees was scheduled to come to effect from January 2019.

Trump 2019 budget proposal includes a pay freeze for civilian pay freeze, which he defended in his letter by emphasizing that a pay freeze will not fail to attract qualified workers and that government would focus on "recruiting, retaining and rewarding high-performing Federal employees and those with critical skill sets."

Meanwhile, if senators pass a spending bill that includes a federal pay raise then Congress has an opportunity to overrule President's decree.

--ANI