Trump retweets GOP Senate candidate upset by federal pay freeze

President Trump on Monday appeared to signal that he is continuing to look into the prospect of giving federal workers a wage increase. 

Trump retweeted a pair of tweets from Republican Senate candidate Corey Stewart in regard to comments he made on Friday about giving a federal pay raise another look. 

{mosads}”About 200,000 #Virginia residents are federal workers; as I travel the state this #LaborDay weekend, Virginians are saying they’re glad @realDonaldTrump is giving the federal pay raise another look,” Stewart tweeted on Saturday. 

In another tweet that Trump retweeted, Stewart said that if elected to the Senate he’ll “be working WITH @realDonaldTrump on his #MAGA agenda — and that includes having the backs of ALL workers in our country.”

About 200,000 #Virginia residents are federal workers; as I travel the state this #LaborDay weekend, Virginians are saying they’re glad @realDonaldTrump is giving the federal pay raise another look.

— Corey Stewart (@CoreyStewartVA) September 2, 2018

In the U.S. Senate I’ll be working WITH @realDonaldTrump on his #MAGA agenda — and that includes having the backs of ALL workers in our country.https://t.co/EjX7tiGxHn

— Corey Stewart (@CoreyStewartVA) September 2, 2018

Trump also retweeted a Stewart tweet in which he claimed “federal workers endured 8 years of hell under Obama, with several rounds of pay freezes and benefit cuts.”

Federal workers endured 8 years of hell under Obama, with several rounds of pay freezes and benefit cuts. @realDonaldTrump can fix this, and I trust that he will. https://t.co/70mgZSRIKd

— Corey Stewart (@CoreyStewartVA) September 1, 2018

The retweets from Trump come as he faces increased scrutiny over his decision to cancel a planned 2.1 percent pay raise for federal workers.

“Federal employees in Virginia wake up early, face punishing traffic and work hard to serve their nation and support their families,” Stewart, an outspoken supporter of Trump’s, said in an emailed statement reported by The Washington Post.

“These workers need and deserve a pay raise.”

But, one day after halting the pay hike, Trump appeared to show that he was still open to giving the raise while speaking at a ceremony in North Carolina on Friday afternoon, saying he’d take a “good hard look” at the issue over the weekend.

The president has faced criticism from both parties over the proposed freeze on federal wages. 

“We cannot balance the budget on the backs of our federal employees and I will work with my House and Senate colleagues to keep the pay increase in our appropriations measures that we vote on in September,” Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock, a vulnerable Republican running for reelection in November, said following the announcement.