E-1 through E-5Junior enlisted
7%
2027 pay policy
0%. The number is intentional.
Military basic pay rises by 5% to 7% in the presidential plan. Civilian general base and locality pay remain unchanged.
01 The retention hierarchy
The money found the people it wanted.
Recruiting and retention justify military pay growth under the plan. The general civilian schedule receives zero, suggesting that the difficulty of keeping people depends on which people are leaving.
E-6 through O-3Includes captains
6%
O-4 and aboveSenior officers
5%
General ScheduleCivilian base & locality
0%
January 2027 adjustments in the August 26 presidential pay plan. Military percentages apply to basic pay, subject to statutory caps. Civilian 0% applies to the general base and locality schedules; a separate 3.8% law-enforcement adjustment is directed. Pay plan, pp. 1–2.
Captain · O-3 over 6+$5,571
Annual basic-pay increase
6% of $92,844
Civilian · GS-15 step 1+$0
Annual general schedule increase
0% of $147,945
The same pay review produces two rather different invitations to stay.
Fixed profiles, before deductions. Captain increase: $5,570.64 per year, rounded. DFAS 2026 O-3 table · OPM 2026 RUS table · 2027 pay plan. Individual step increases, promotions, awards, and special rates are outside this comparison.
Zero was selected.
The August 26 letter explicitly holds civilian base and locality pay at 2026 rates. It separately sets military basic-pay increases of 7%, 6%, and 5% by grade band. The intended effective date is January 1, 2027. Presidential pay plan, pp. 1–2.
Military retention receives funding; civilian retention receives an assurance that funding is unnecessary.
Your retention was considered.
The letter states that the civilian freeze will not harm recruiting or retention. That leaves a comfortable margin for interpretation: employees who stay establish that the salary was sufficient, while employees who leave reduce the number of salaries requiring discussion.
There is no need to confuse an unchanged pay table with an overlooked pay table. Zero appears in the document as a decision.
The exact scope.
This is a general base and locality pay adjustment, not a claim that every civilian’s individual paycheck is frozen. The letter directs a separate 3.8% law-enforcement compensation process. Promotions, steps, special rates, and awards are outside the fixed-profile calculation.
Annual 2027 compensation remains projected: this site holds 2026 housing and subsistence allowances flat. Subsequent action or final tables may change the inputs.
August 26, 2026 alternative pay plan
House Document 119–189 · Letter pp. 1–2 · PDF pp. 3–4
The earlier invitation to leave · Captain versus GS-15 · Calculation method