House Republicans this week introduced a bill that would extend a pay freeze for federal workers.

Sponsored by freshman Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), H.R. 273 would block a 0.5 percent pay increase mandated by President Obama at the end of last month. This will save about $11 billion, DeSantis said.

The increase would end a two-year pay freeze and is set to begin March 27.

"The president has once again demonstrated his penchant for unrestrained spending by giving federal employees, including lawmakers, an across-the-board pay hike and sticking the rest of us with the $11 billion bill," DeSantis said in a statement after he introduced the bill.

At the tail end of the 112th Congress, the House passed a measure that would have continued the pay freeze, with support from some Democrats. But the Senate didn't take it up, leaving the new Congress to deal with the effort (Greenwire, Jan. 2).

So far, the bill has 28 co-sponsors, including House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who previously led the charge for the pay freeze.

"As President Obama continues to say one thing and do another on deficit spending, it is appropriate for Congress to challenge his unilateral decision to spend $11 billion on non-merit based pay raises for federal workers," Issa said in a statement.

Unions have called on lawmakers to oppose the bill, saying extending the freeze was a form of punishment.

Employees have already sacrificed billions of dollars because of the pay freeze and retirement cuts, said William Dougan, national president of the National Federation of Federal Employees.

"Another year of frozen pay will only do more damage to federal workers, and their families who are struggling just like anyone else in this economy," he said. "This type of political scapegoating is not irresponsible, it is wholly unappreciative of the sacrifices civil servants have already made to help our nation's finances."

The American Federation of Government Employees said Congress must stop politicizing federal pay.

"The salary freeze -- along with the threat of furloughs, layoffs and another complete government shutdown -- are a punishment in search of a crime," union National President J. David Cox said in a statement.