Federal Pay Freeze Impacts Top Government Roles

Long-running pay cap limits salary increases for senior political appointees and senior civil servants

Published on Feb. 23, 2026

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A decade-long pay freeze on senior political appointees in the federal government, including the vice president and other high-level officials, has created pay compression and retention challenges across the federal workforce. The freeze, first enacted in 2014, has limited pay increases for covered positions, even as official Executive Schedule rates have risen about 27% overall. This has resulted in a collective impact of reduced compensation for affected officials in the low hundreds of millions of dollars.

Why it matters

The pay freeze has had a ripple effect, directly impacting senior political appointees as well as a large number of senior civil servants under the General Schedule. It has led to pay compression, limits on locality pay adjustments in high-cost areas, and flattened top-step pay, contributing to long-running structural pay issues at the top of the federal workforce. This makes it difficult for the government to attract and retain the best talent for high-level public service roles.

The details

The pay freeze covers senior political appointees, including those serving in Executive Schedule (EX) positions, chiefs of mission, non-career Senior Executive Service (SES) members, and other employees paid at or above the EX-IV rate. While official EX pay rates have increased about 27% since 2013, the payable rates for covered officials have only received a one-time 1.9% adjustment in 2019 and have remained static since then. This has resulted in a collective impact of reduced compensation for affected officials in the low hundreds of millions of dollars over the decade-plus period.

  • The pay freeze first took effect on the first day of the first pay period after January 17, 2014.
  • The pay freeze has been extended annually through appropriations legislation since 2014.

The players

Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

The federal agency that announced the continuation of the pay freeze for some senior political officials in the government.

Jason Briefel

The former director of policy and outreach for the Senior Executives Association, who in 2023 said the pay freeze "is bad policy that has long outlived its potential initial justification, now being in place for nearly a decade."

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What they’re saying

“The political appointee pay freeze is bad policy that has long outlived its potential initial justification, now being in place for nearly a decade. It is far past time for Congress to allow this provision to lapse.”

— Jason Briefel, Former Director of Policy and Outreach, Senior Executives Association

What’s next

Congress will need to decide whether to extend the pay freeze for senior political appointees again in future appropriations legislation.

The takeaway

The decade-long federal pay freeze has created significant pay compression and retention challenges, making it difficult for the government to attract and retain top talent for high-level public service roles. This raises questions about the long-term impacts on the federal workforce and the government's ability to effectively serve the public.