Trump intends to give feds 1% pay raise with some law enforcement officers getting more

Federal employees would see a 1% pay increase with locality pay frozen in 2026 under an alternative pay plan issued by President Trump to Congress on Friday, while certain federal law enforcement officers could receive larger raises.

That document directs the Office of Personnel Management to decide which categories of federal law enforcement employees will receive a 3.8% base pay increase in line with expected military raises. Several law enforcement agencies are planning to surge hiring under the Trump administration, particularly related to immigration enforcement. 

The White House had previously indicated that it would freeze civilian salaries for 2026.

Every August, the president must submit an alternative pay plan for federal civilian employees to offset potential increases to locality pay laid out in the 1990 Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act. The alternative pay plan has become an annual practice across administrations, but speculation rose as the month's end drew closer with no word from the president.

“Federal employee pay must be based on merit and practical skill and aligned with the budget and my administration's goals of streamlining the federal workforce and reducing federal spending,” Trump wrote in the Aug. 28 congressional notice. “My alternative pay plan will further my administration's efforts to create an excellent and efficient federal workforce of the highest caliber while maintaining fiscal responsibility.”

The National Treasury Employees Union called Trump’s proposal “meager” and “inadequate.” 

“At the very least, the planned 3.8 percent average increase for military and federal law enforcement should be extended to all federal employees,” the union’s president, Doreen Greenwald, said in a statement. “Even better, NTEU has endorsed legislation that would give all federal employees an average 4.3 percent raise next year, and we will continue to urge Congress to override the president’s below-market raise and give all federal employees a fair increase in January.”

Trump proposed pay freezes in three of the four years of his first term, though Congress overruled him each time, providing raises between 1.4% and 2.6%. In his final year in office, President Joe Biden issued a 2% average general schedule pay raise for 2025. 

Without the alternative pay plan in place, Trump said in his notice that locality pay "would increase an average of 18.88 percent, costing $24 billion in the first year alone" alongside a 3.3% increase to General Schedule pay.

The Federal Salary Council reported that federal employees in 2024 on average earned 24.72% less than their counterparts in similar private sector jobs.

After issuing the alternative pay plan, Trump must also publish an executive order in December formally implementing the plan. So far, congressional appropriators have not included any employee pay language in their funding bills for fiscal 2026.