Press Releases

January 21, 2022 (Washington, D.C.) – Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), who represents the largest number of federal employees of any member of the U.S. House of Representatives, today welcomed guidance issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to achieve President Biden’s directive to establish a $15 minimum wage for federal employees. The OPM memo issued today instructs agencies: “pay adjustments to comply with the $15 hourly minimum rate policy must be effective beginning on the first day of the first applicable pay period commencing on or after January 30, 2022.”

“Like every American worker, employees of the United States government deserve to be paid a fair wage. I thank the Biden-Harris Administration for raising the minimum wage for federal employees, which, along with a similar directive to boost wages for federal contractors, will help many families I represent,” said Rep. Beyer. “This treatment of the federal workforce is a welcome change from the previous president, who regularly denigrated their service. While I am thrilled that the President is using his authority to raise wages for civil servants, every American worker deserves a fair wage, and it is up to Congress to guarantee it to them. As such, I continue to urge the Senate to follow the House’s lead, pass the Raise The Wage Act, and give workers across the country a long-overdue minimum wage increase.”

Beyer, who represents the Northern Virginia suburbs of the nation’s capital, is a cosponsor of legislation to give a 5.1% raise to federal employees. The Biden-Harris Administration’s minimum wage directive parallels a similar directive issued last year to establish a $15 minimum wage for federal contractors, which Beyer strongly supported.