U.S. diplomats face a 22% pay cut next month as Congress scrambles for a fix
Thousands of overseas American diplomats are at risk of a sharp, 22% pay cut at the beginning of October unless Congress fixes the issue in the coming weeks.
WASHINGTON — Thousands of overseas American diplomats are at risk of a sharp pay cut at the beginning of October unless Congress passes a legislative fix in the coming weeks.
Lawmakers are scrambling to push for a solution in a short-term bill to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1, with the diplomats' dilemma raising the stakes for talks on Capitol Hill to fund the government.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, said it’s “an urgent issue” that must be fixed immediately in the government funding bill (known as a continuing resolution, or CR), which is again mired in a partisan fight on Capitol Hill.
“It would impact virtually every foreign service officer deployed overseas. And a 22% reduction in their pay would be a needless and demoralizing harm. I look forward to working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Coons told NBC News. “This should be easily resolvable in the CR.”
The pay cuts are a result of the impending lapse in the Overseas Comparability Pay (OCP) system, which helps bring the salaries of overseas foreign affairs personnel closer to comparable roles in the private sector in Washington, D.C.
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