I understand that position, and there is merit to it. There is currently a budget challenge, and the monies used for the raises most certainly contributed to the situation.

The other side of that argument comes from the large contingent of the workforce that for the better part of the last decade scored an exceeds standards or higher on their reviews and never even got a true cost of living increase. If the basic model is to reward your high performing employees, then having that segment of the workforce get maybe a .5% raise is not in keeping with that model. No one joins the Feds to get rich, but a little bit here and there like the rest of the government and most of the civilian work force is to be considered appropriate.