This is the article in question.
The dishonesty starts with the use of a loaded term (bureaucrats) rather than a neutral term (civil servants) and with the impression that Biden used discretion raising pay rates.
Biden did use discretion, but as with the proceeding Presidents, he used discretion in invoking LOWER pay raises than would otherwise have occurred.
The dishonesty goes on in the text of the article itself.
The honest truth is that Biden has done what EVERY President has done since the advent of the modern pay system in the early 1990’s. He issued an alternative pay plan that resulted in a LOWER pay adjustment than what the civil service would have otherwise received. The percentage was purely a result of inflation, which ties to excessive spending by both Republicans and Democrats during the pandemic and aftermath of the pandemic. Biden did not give this raise as an act of largesse. Instead he used the same formula in the same way as did Clinton, Bush II, Obama and Trump.
An then we reach the huge lie.
Quoting from the linked article:
The average pay for federal employees was $98,943 in 2023, according to data collected by OPM. Pay in some locales is even higher, with federal employees in Washington, D.C., bringing in an average of $135,078 per year and feds in Maryland taking home an average of $128,663.
The median salary in the United States was $1,118 per week as of October, which works out to about $58,000 a year, according to the BLS. That figure includes federal employees.
Apples to oranges.
Lets compare apples to apples.
A GS-5 nurse would fairly compare to a starting registered nurse in the private sector.
A registered nurse makes a mean salary of $77,460, which can vary widely by State.
A nurse at GS-5 Step 10 (nearly 20 years of service) in the San Francisco locality area (the highest paying locality area) will make $64,037.
A nurse at GS-7 Step 10 (nearly 20 years of service) (again, in San Francisco) will make $79,331.
GS-5 & GS-7 nurses elsewhere in the country with a lower locality rate will make significantly less.
For example, a GS-7 nurse could max out at $63,733 in 2024 in much of the country.
And this example holds true for every job series.
Civil servants don’t make anywhere close to their private sector counterparts and Heritage had to resort to a major apples to oranges argument to make that lie.
Of course, “cumulative” Federal pay will be higher since the Federal Government is employing skilled labor and professionals and very little unskilled labor, while the private market employs a high percentage of unskilled or low skill labor, which brings the average way down.
I did send an email to the author, to the effect of he could not have written that with a straight face.
Plenty of honest arguments Heritage could make against the Federal Government, no need to resort to bald face lies.
And, in just a matter of minutes, I plan to post an OP based on an honestly written Heritage article that that criticizes both the Federal and State governments, particularly government planning.
Heritage should stick to solid policy arguments and avoid writing garbage aimed at low information voters. (i.e. red meat)
