Congress raises federal prison officer pay 35% to fix staffing crisis
H.R. 7033 — Federal Correctional Officer Paycheck Protection Act of 2026 · Filed by Dan Goldman (D-NY) · 50 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 13, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill gives federal correctional officers working for the Bureau of Prisons a permanent 35% pay raise above their current base salary, effective immediately. The raise applies to both salaried officers and hourly wage workers, and counts as basic pay for retirement, benefits, and other purposes. The bill includes a 5-year sunset clause, but allows the raise to continue indefinitely if the Justice Department's Inspector General certifies that the pay increase has reduced staffing shortcuts (called 'augmentation') and excessive mandatory overtime.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a targeted 35% pay raise for a specific federal workforce (Bureau of Prisons correctional officers) with a sunset clause and performance-review trigger. This is straightforward public-sector compensation policy, not a tax break, subsidy, or deregulation.
What the text implies
- The 35% raise is permanent if the Inspector General certifies 'measurable progress' on augmentation and overtime—a vague standard that may be difficult to disprove, effectively converting a 5-year pilot into indefinite law.
- The bill defines 'Federal correctional officer' broadly to include supervisory and administrative staff without law-enforcement classification, potentially expanding the beneficiary pool beyond frontline custody officers.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
Federal correctional officers (Bureau of Prisons); Federal employee pension systems (FERS/CSRS)