President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that freezes federal workers’ pay after the new year, according to CNN. Trump’s move, which is in keeping with a proposal that he announced earlier in 2018, comes amid a partial government shutdown which has left more than 700,000 federal employees furloughed or forced to work without pay. The planned pay raise was an across-the board 2.1 percent bump. Trump’s decision also slashes the “locality pay increase,” an annual paycheck adjustment based on where federal employees live, CNN notes. American troops are still poised to receive a 2.6 percent pay increase in 2019. While legislators could put a pay raise in a spending bill that would reopen the federal government, talks have stalled over Trump’s insistence on funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, per CNN.
