Federal employee unions are already feeling underwhelmed by the 2017 federal budget.

In anticipation of a 1.6 proposed pay raise for federal employees expected with the Feb. 9 budget, presidents from the National Treasury Employees Union and the American Federation of Government Employees came out blasting a pay bump they deemed meager.

"A 1.6 pay raise won't significantly narrow the growing gap between private-sector and federal pay or help middle-class federal employees adequately cope with rising costs," said NTEU president Tony Reardon, in a statement.

"Without a fair pay increase, the federal-private pay gap will continue to grow and federal agencies will find it harder and harder to recruit and retain talented workers. Federal employees have contributed billions of dollars to deficit reduction. It is time to recognize the value these employees bring to our country."

AFGE president J. David Cox also echoed displeasure with the proposed raise, which The Washington Post reported was announced in a Feb. 3 conference call with administration and union officials.

"For six consecutive years, federal employees received no locality increases to their pay, and for three of those years they received no pay raise at all," he said in a statement. "Since 2010, the inflation-adjusted value of federal wages and salaries has fallen by 6.5 percent, leaving all federal employees with a lower standard of living than they had at the start of the decade."

The raise edges federal employees 0.3 percent above the 2016 mark, which was confirmed in December with the budget deal, but the unions say that federal employees are lagging behind their private sector counterparts when it comes to wages, following 1 percent raises in 2014 and 2015.

"We believe federal employees deserve a meaningful pay raise next year to help make up for years of neglect by elected officials," Cox said.

"AFGE is calling on lawmakers to approve a 5.3 percent pay raise in 2017, which reflects the 1.6 percent national increase employees should receive plus a partial catch-up for the national and local pay adjustments denied for the past four years."

The federal budget will be released on Feb. 9.

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