The pending raises, now frozen, for Vice President Mike Pence and other high-ranking officials had created an unexpected optics issue for the Trump administration. Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced late Friday night that it would freeze a pay raise for Vice President Mike Pence, members of the cabinet and other high-ranking political appointees in light of the partial government shutdown.
The high-level officials were positioned to receive a raise of about $10,000 a year — which was to go into effect on Saturday — as 800,000 federal employees were entering their third week without pay.
The increases were the result of Congress’s failure to renew a longstanding freeze on raises for high-ranking officials and political appointees. An extension of the freeze was included in the spending bills funding multiple government agencies that were not acted on before the expiration on Thursday of the 115th Congress.
But on Friday night, the Office of Personnel Management announced that “it would be prudent for agencies to continue to pay these senior political officials at the frozen rate until appropriations legislation is enacted that would clarify the status of the freeze.”
The decision came during an unexpected optics issue for the Trump administration: While correctional officers, Transportation Security Administration agents and other federal employees work without pay during the government shutdown, Mr. Pence’s annual salary would have jumped to $243,500 from $230,700. Cabinet secretaries who were paid $199,700 a year would have seen their annual pay rise to $210,700. It also came after The Washington Post reported the potential raises.
The administration appeared to be aware of the perception…
