WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump has told Congress he is canceling a pay raise that most civilian federal employees were due to receive in January, citing budgetary constraints.
Trump informed House and Senate leaders in a letter sent Thursday.
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Trump says in the letter that locality pay increases would cost $25 billion, on top of a 2.1 percent across-the-board increase for most civilian government employees.
He cites the costs and says: "We must maintain efforts to put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and Federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases." Trump says he's determined that for 2019 "both across-the-board pay increases and locality pay increases will be set at zero."
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President Donald Trump pauses while speaking during a dinner for evangelical leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)