An amendment to the fiscal year 2019 appropriations bill for the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Education would prevent all Department of Labor employees from receiving a pay raise until their secretary develops a plan to reduce improper payments.
The amendment, introduced Aug. 16 by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., prevents funds contained in the appropriations bill from being made available for pay raises until Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta submits a plan to Congress.
Kennedy originally proposed eliminating pay raises for all executive-branch federal employees for FY19 in June 2018, in line with a 2019 pay freeze proposed by the Trump administration, but the amendment was struck down in committee.
Instead, the Senate passed a 1.9 percent federal pay raise for the coming fiscal year.
The Senate is scheduled to consider the appropriations bill during the week of Aug. 20, though Kennedy’s amendment has not yet been placed on the calendar.
The amendment was first reported by Bloomberg Law.
