While the White House’s 2027 budget proposal released Friday includes a 5%-7% pay raise based on rank for military service members, the proposal is silent on a 2027 federal pay raise for civilian employees.
An Office of Management and Budget spokesperson told Government Executive that under Trump’s budget, civilian workers would receive no pay increase next January.
2027 CSRS / FERS COLA Watch for Federal Retirees
Most federal employees received a 1% across-the-board pay raise for 2026 — the smallest pay increase they have received since 2021. Federal law enforcement personnel received a 3.8% increase in 2026.
Democratic lawmakers have proposed a larger federal pay raise in 2027 of 4.1% in the the FAIR Act. Congressman James Walkinshaw (D-VA), who sponsored the FAIR Act, made the following statement Friday regarding the 2027 federal employee pay freeze:
“For 15 months, the Trump administration has attacked federal employees through reckless DOGE policies, used them as political leverage through two shutdowns, and offered a meager 1% raise in the current fiscal year. This budget continues that pattern with an insulting pay freeze, chainsaw slashes to key federal agencies, and no meaningful investment to retain the workforce that continues to serve the American people despite the abuse from the Administration and Republican Congress.
The nonpartisan public servants who continue showing up to work, even after this Administration has repeatedly shoved them to the side, choose public service over bigger private sector paychecks. As Co-Chair and Founder of the Federal Workforce Caucus, I will keep fighting to deliver exactly that through the FAIR Act, which provides a 4.1% raise grounded in real economic data and the statutory FEPCA formula.”
The annual precedent is that the president releases an initial proposal for the next year’s federal employee pay raise — which could be zero. The White House must submit an alternative pay plan to Congress by August or —unless Congress intervenes — an automatic increases will be enacted in locality pay due to the 1990 Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act.