Just politically, cutting off a pay raise so close before an election just seems unique…unless it is known full well that Congress will grant that 1.9% raise and be the saving hero.
There’s no 25% pay cut. If it didn’t go through (which I bet it will through Congress) we are talking about not getting a 2.1 % difference. The huge locality increase has been blocked ever since it came into existence and no sane person ever thought that would go through. Obama did the same thing.
In its most broadest usage, even the janitor at the Pentagon is a bureaucrat.
I think a more tempered reference to a bureaucrat, would be to a Civil Servant who has obtained sufficient rank in office to have some discretion in how he performs. Generally, that starts happening at GS-7 and up.
My cousin is a bureaucrat in the full traditional sense of the word. He is in the Senior Executive Service and has significant power and responsibility. Most Federal employees are closer to the bottom than the top and have no power or responsibility, just rote duties they must carry out.
The federal government, like a lot of local and state governments, have moved food service and janitorial services to contract work - they don’t directly employ those minimum wage jobs (in general).
The yokels in the South just haven’t yet figured out how games are played in New York City. Plus, the TV and radio keep them in line.
Now, which TV and radio personalities made out like bandits regarding the tax cuts and how are they affected by the lack of pay increases for lower paid people (including federal employees)? Now find the ones against this stuff and the ones for this stuff.