A Federal Pay Raise – a Terrible Idea

Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi speaks at the dedication of the Dr. Norman Borlaug statue in the National Statuary Hall at the U. S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Mar. 25, 2014. USDA photo by Lance Cheung.

Are Democrats making themselves less believable? Opposing President Trump’s wall between the border of the U.S. and Mexico for budgetary reasons while approving a pay raise for every federal bureaucrat, “only exacerbates the Pelosi/Schumer credibility problem,” explains James Freeman in the WSJ.

Regardless of the wall debate, a federal pay raise is a terrible idea given Friday’s report on the continuing American jobs boom and intense demand for workers in private business.

Why should a deeply indebted federal government provide another financial incentive for its unaffordable workforce to stay put? Their help is wanted and needed in the private economy.

How to Pay for the Wall

The Congressional Budget Office pegged the pay raise for federal workers, which the House just passed, at $3.329 billion in fiscal year 2019.

In other words, take the money the Pelosi House has now approved for barriers and other equipment to prevent illegal border crossings and add the money the Pelosi House wants to hand out in raises for bureaucrats and you have roughly $5 billion, which would just about cover the President’s wall request.

Striking a border deal wouldn’t even necessarily require the Speaker to climb down from her claim of architectural immorality. At his Friday press conference the President seemed willing to call it a “structure” instead of a “wall” and said he’s happy to use steel. This means there can still be a legislative compromise even if the Speaker harbors some deep philosophical objection to concrete.

Compromise on Immigration Reform?

Trump’s seemingly willingness to deal on how to handle the issue of people illegally brought to the U.S. as children is a welcome consideration:

Most encouraging of all, (Trump) spoke at length on the need to keep talented foreign students in the U.S. after they earn valuable degrees at U.S. universities. If the Speaker is willing to compromise, she can achieve much of what her party claims to want in terms of immigration reform.

If not, it means that what Democrats really want is to embarrass the President.

Debbie Young

Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, and practicing yoga.