Great work by my Administration over the holidays to save Coast Guard pay during this #SchumerShutdown. No thanks to the Democrats who left town and are not concerned about the safety and security of Americans!
After signing his executive order to freeze payment to 2.1 million federal workers and block a 2.1% blanket pay raise scheduled for January, Trump continues blaming Democrats for government shutdown
Sunday, December 30, 2018
 |
| President Donald Trump on Friday issued an executive order freezing pay for 2.1 million federal workers in 2019 |
VietPress USA (Dec. 30, 2018): Welcoming the New Year Eve, Trump signed his Executive Order last Friday for freezing pay to 2.1 million federal workers in new year 2019, while thousands others remain furloughed under government shutdown.
Trump's executive order will block a 2.1% blanket pay raise scheduled for January 2019. At least 800,000 federal employees remain furloughed or working without pay due to the partial government shutdown created by Trump.
The order, which overrides an automatic raise law, has been met with intense backlash from workers' advocates.
'This is just pouring salt into the wound,' Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union - which represents about 100,000 federal workers - said in a statement.
'It is shocking that federal employees are taking yet another financial hit. As if missed paychecks and working without pay were not enough, now they have been told that they don’t even deserve a modest pay increase.'
In addition to blocking the blanket raise, the order cancelled locality pay increases -paycheck adjustments made based on the region of the country where workers are posted.
However, the move will not affect a scheduled 2.6 percent pay raise for American troops that was passed as part of the massive defense spending bill Trump signed this fall.
Lawmakers could step in and include the scheduled raise in the 2019 spending bill, which is currently stalled over Trump's $5billion border wall demand.
Trump has been advocating the freeze since February - part of his long-proposed plan to shrink the federal government.
He announced his plan to scrap the 2019 pay increase in August, calling it 'inappropriate' in a letter to House and Senate leaders.
'We must maintain efforts to put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and Federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases,' Trump wrote. (Daily Mail.UK).
Today, Multiple White House officials say there is no indication that any progress will be made before Democrats assume control of the House on Jan. 3.
"Everything is completely stalled and nothing is in the works," a White House official told ABC News Sunday afternoon.
Trump continued to blame the Democrats for the shutdown Sunday morning labeling, it the “Schumer Shutdown” on Twitter.
Read this news from ABC News on Yahoo News at:
VietPress USA News
oOo
No meeting scheduled to end shutdown before new year
No meeting scheduled to end shutdown before new year originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
With the partial government shutdown stretching well into its second week, there has been no meeting scheduled before the new year between President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, White House and Senate officials tell ABC News.
Multiple White House officials say there is no indication that any progress will be made before Democrats assume control of the House on Jan. 3.
"Everything is completely stalled and nothing is in the works," a White House official told ABC News Sunday afternoon.
A spokesperson from Schumer's office said the White House has not extended a formal invitation for the Senate minority leader to come to the White House to meet with the president.
(MORE: Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal: President Donald Trump immoral, doesn't tell the truth)
Trump continued to blame the Democrats for the shutdown Sunday morning labeling, it the “Schumer Shutdown” on Twitter.
During their last meeting in the Oval Office 19 days ago, Trump told Schumer he would take the blame for any government shutdown.
“I will be the one to shut it down. I'm not going to blame you for it,” Trump told Schumer. “The last time you shut it down, it didn't work. I will take the mantle of shutting down.”
Meanwhile, sources close to the president say he's been on the phone with political allies and conservative pundits to reassure them that he will not back down on his promise for funding for a border wall. Sources tell ABC News Trump believes the shutdown narrative deflects from the incoming House investigations.
"If Congress focuses on anything other than the reopening of the government it looks horrible optically," the White House official said when describing the president's thinking.
But many in the White House are still puzzled by what Trump means when he says he won't back down, since they've already started compromising on the original $5 billion dollar figure for the border wall.
As ABC News reported last week, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney offered Schumer around $2 billion on Saturday for border security, with the caveat that there be no restrictions on how that money can be spent.
However, Schumer's office tells ABC News that they're reluctant to even consider this offer unless they know that Trump will support the budget bill.
Sources caution that even if Trump, Schumer and Pelosi meet face-to-face, Trump can still back off from a compromise like he's done in the past.
