A signature block of 110 names closes a September 15 letter to the four top leaders of Congress, and every name backs one request: do not let federal civilian employees go into January 2027 with a pay freeze. The document is a plea to the leadership, not a law, and no pay figure has been enacted by it. The freeze stays the default plan unless Congress writes a different number into legislation.
A September 15 letter to Thune, Johnson, Schumer and Jeffries
The letter is addressed to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. It is dated September 15, 2026, and was posted as a PDF by Representative James Walkinshaw’s office. The letter does not print a total of its own, so the figure of 110 comes from counting the names in its signature block, House members and senators together.
Four signers head the list: Walkinshaw, Senator Chris Van Hollen, Representative Steny Hoyer and Senator Brian Schatz. Others in the block include Senators Tim Kaine, Mark Warner, Ron Wyden, Bernie Sanders and Tammy Duckworth, and Representatives Jamie Raskin, Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Brian Fitzpatrick. The argument rests on a single sentence the lead signers put in front of leadership.
“Asking these public servants to now accept a pay freeze as the cost of living continues to rise amounts to an effective pay cut,” the letter says. It adds that the federal government “must recruit and retain skilled employees to care for our veterans, protect our national security, inspect our food and medicine.”
What the letter asks for: 3.8 percent at a minimum, 4.1 percent preferably
The request has two tiers. The first is a floor. “At a minimum, federal civilian employees should receive the same 3.8 percent pay increase the Administration has proposed for federal law enforcement,” the letter states. The second tier is a stretch: “Congress should go further and provide the 4.1 percent increase called for in the FAIR Act, which would help federal pay keep pace with rising costs.”
The vehicle the signers name is the next spending bill. The letter asks leadership to include “a federal employee pay increase of no less than 3.8 percent, and preferably the 4.1 percent provided under the FAIR Act, in Fiscal Year 2027 appropriations legislation.” A pay figure placed in an appropriations bill and signed into law is the kind of action that would change what employees see in January.
The argument leans on the administration’s own position. The letter quotes the President’s proposal: “President Trump has proposed that federal law enforcement personnel receive a 3.8 percent pay increase to improve recruitment and retention.” The signers argue that the administration’s own proposal shows why a comparable raise is needed for civilian workers.
How the freeze became the default plan for January 2027
The freeze comes from a routine step in federal pay law. In a letter dated September 1, 2026, President Trump sent Congress an alternative pay plan for 2027: 0 percent for general civilian employees and 3.8 percent for law enforcement personnel, FedWeek reported. The plan takes effect in January 2027.
The letter gives a reason for the alternative plan. Without it, the President wrote, “under current law, beginning in January 2027, locality pay for the civilian workforce would automatically increase by an average of 20.6 percent, costing $26 billion in the first year alone.” Congress had until the end of August to specify different pay increases, and FedWeek notes that silence lets the President’s proposal take effect by default. A specific figure or figures enacted by the end of the year would override the alternative plan.
That timing explains why the signers wrote in mid-September and pointed at appropriations. The window is not closed, but it is narrowing, and the only instrument that changes the January outcome is legislation passed and signed before the year ends.
Precedent from last year’s pay fight
The outcome of the earlier round matters for how this one is read. FedWeek records that for 2026 the President first advocated a freeze but ultimately allowed a 1 percent general raise and a 3.8 percent law enforcement increase to proceed by default. Congress, in other words, has often let the default stand rather than enact its own number.
The 3.8 percent figure for law enforcement is therefore not new for 2027. It repeats the law enforcement raise from 2026, and the letter uses that repetition as its anchor: if 3.8 percent is the right raise for officers to improve recruitment and retention, the signers argue, the same figure is the right floor for the civilian workforce.
The FAIR Act behind the 4.1 percent figure
The 4.1 percent number is not new either. It comes from the FAIR Act, which Schatz and Walkinshaw introduced in February and which Schatz’s office described in a press release as a 4.1 percent pay increase in calendar year 2027. The bill is aimed at what the release calls a wage gap between federal and private-sector employees, putting the average shortfall at roughly 27 percent.
“Federal workers play an important role in our daily lives and deserve pay that reflects that,” Schatz said when the bill was introduced. Walkinshaw added: “Federal workers are the backbone of America, delivering essential services and benefits that families have earned.” The release lists eleven senators as cosponsors, including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and carries statements from the presidents of the two largest federal-employee unions, Everett Kelley of AFGE and Doreen Greenwald of NTEU.
The release describes the FAIR Act as introduced, and nothing in the letter says it has advanced further. The letter cites the bill as the model for the larger raise rather than as legislation already moving.
What the letter does and does not change
A letter from 110 members of Congress carries political weight, but it binds no one. It does not amend the President’s alternative pay plan, it does not set a 2027 raise, and it does not cancel the January freeze. As of the Walkinshaw office’s posted letter, dated September 15, the freeze stands as the default and the asks are a minimum of 3.8 percent, with 4.1 percent preferred, to be carried in Fiscal Year 2027 appropriations legislation.
The question for federal civilian employees is therefore a legislative one with a year-end clock: whether a specific raise figure is enacted before the default pay plan takes effect. The letter’s own words set the terms, and the signature block shows how many lawmakers put their names behind them.
When a bank account is frozen or a collector calls
Pay fights like this one play out against household budgets where a single frozen account or an unexpected collection call can strain a month. Rules about which funds a creditor may reach, and how a collector must prove a debt, are separate from anything in this pay debate and are easy to get wrong under pressure.
The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit includes the 2-month bank protection rule, the debt-validation steps, the frozen-account response and a protected-funds and dispute log for keeping the paperwork in one place.
Open The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit before a collector calls →
This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the figures and quotes were checked against the September 15 signed letter, the FAIR Act press release and FedWeek’s report on the 2027 alternative pay plan.
