President Obama is coming under criticism from labor unions and progressive economists for proposing a two-year freeze on the salaries of some two million federal workers. Obama outlined his plan on Monday.

President Obama: “Today I’m proposing a two-year pay freeze for all civilian federal workers. This would save $2 billion over the rest of this fiscal year and $28 billion in cumulative savings over the next five years. And I want to be clear: this freeze does not apply to the men and women of our armed forces, who, along with their families, continue to bear enormous burdens with our nation at war.”

John Gage, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, called the pay freeze “a slap at working people.” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said, “The president talked about the need for shared sacrifice, but there’s nothing shared about Wall Street and CEOs making record profits and bonuses while working people bear the brunt.”