No. of Feds Making Over $150K Soars

The number of federal government employees making at least $150,000 a year is 10 times what it was five years ago, and it has doubled since President Obama’s inauguration, says a study by USA Today. House GOP members are hoping to pounce on the issue as the lame-duck Congress begins next week, attempting to bar Obama’s intended 1.4% raise for federal workers.

“Every metric shows we’re heading in the wrong direction,” says the Republican who will head a panel on federal pay. But the head of a federal workers’ union calls the raise “modest.” Big beneficiaries of government raises since 2005 include longtime employees, who have seen salaries jump 25%; physicians, who earn some $68,000 more; and the Defense Department, which in June had 994 civilians making $170,000, compared to 9 in 2005.