The Hill News

President Obama appeared to take a page out of the House Republican playbook when he called on Monday for a temporary freeze on federal civilian pay.

Obama announced a two-year halt on worker pay increases in an effort to reduce deep budget deficits. The cuts are projected to save $2 billion for the remainder of the fiscal year and could save $28 billion over the next five years.

{mosads}But Boehner (R-Ohio) went further earlier this month when he called for a federal hiring moratorium in addition to a freeze on civilian pay.

"There ought to be a freeze on the hiring of new federal employees, and frankly, we ought to freeze the pay," Boehner said on Nov. 10.

Following the midterm election in which Democrats lost control of the House to Republicans, a loss Obama described as a "shellacking," he pledged to work with Republicans moving forward, but named few specific policy areas where they agree. 

A spokesman for House Majority Leader-designate Eric Cantor (R-Va.) pointed out that the congressman introduced a measure in May 2010 that would have eliminated the next scheduled round of nonmilitary government pay increases.

Just over a week after the election, Boehner bolstered his idea by saying that the average federal worker earns more than twice as much as his average civilian counterpart.

The claim is b ased on a report that uses government data to show that federal workers on average take in more than $123,000 a year in salary and benefits compared to just over $61,000 for a private-sector worker.

This post was updated at 1:18 p.m.