Member-only story
Trump Shortchanges Federal Employees on Cost of Living Increases
The President of the United States, unlike the governors of forty-four U.S. states, does not have the power of the line item veto. Knowing this, Donald Trump is attempting to initiate the line item veto through presidential fiat, beginning with federal employee cost of living increases.
Mr. Trump, in his current role as a reality TV star portraying the president of the United States, has decreed that approximately two million federal employees will NOT receive salary increases scheduled for January of 2019, according to a report by AP reporter Darlene Superville that has been cited by The Washington Post and carried by most major media outlets.
Interestingly, none of these news sources have bothered to explain that, under normal conditions, the President does not have the power to set or cancel pay increases for federal employees. Under normal conditions, Congress votes on the federal budget, which includes the allocations for the salaries of all federal employees. Under normal circumstances, the President may then either approve or veto that budget, and Congress then has the option of sustaining or overriding the President’s veto.
Apparently, conditions are not normal enough for Mr. Trump.