Senators Lobby for Comparable Raises for Civil Servants, Military

Twelve senators have written to a key Senate Appropriations subcommittee to urge continued support for "pay parity" raises between civil service and military personnel.

Without competitive salaries, the government's ability to recruit and retain employees "will be limited," the senators said. In the letter, they suggest that the government will need to hire about 250,000 government workers in the next two years to replace departing employees and staff new programs.

President Bush has recommended a 3.1 percent raise for the military next year and a 2.3 percent raise for the civil service. Administration officials oppose pay parity increases, in part because they say boosting raises in non-Defense agencies diverts critical money from programs and operations.

The senators asked that the subcommittee provide equal pay raises in keeping with past congressional practice. "Disparate treatment of federal civilian and military pay would go against this longstanding congressional policy of ensuring pay parity for all those who have chosen to serve our nation, whether that service be in the civilian workforce or in the uniformed services," the senators wrote.

Because of the importance of many federal programs, the government must be able to recruit employees who are "highly skilled, diverse and motivated to perform public service," the senators wrote.

The letter was signed by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, John W. Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.), George Allen (R-Va.), Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine).

The letter was sent to Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that historically sets federal pay policy, and Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the subcommittee's ranking Democrat.

Congress did not address next year's pay raise in its fiscal 2006 budget resolutions, leaving the matter to the House and Senate Appropriations committees. In past years, the committees have come to a consensus on pay during the summer and wrapped up a decision in the fall.

Defense Pay Flap

An emergency spending bill to finance military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan includes a provision that would require the office of the secretary of defense and certain Defense agencies to ensure that career executives get the same pay raise this year as political appointees.

In January, some political appointees in the executive ranks at the Pentagon received a 2.5 percent pay raise, while most career executives with similar job ratings of "fully successful" received a 2 percent raise. Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and other senators have criticized the pay decision as inconsistent with the law.

The provision would prohibit the Pentagon from spending appropriated funds "for any pay raise granted on or after January 1, 2005 that is implemented in a manner that provides a greater increase for non-career employees than for career employees on the basis of their status as career or non-career employees."

A congressional aide said the provision would require a retroactive raise for affected executives and will ban raises in the future based on a person's career or political status.

Defense officials have contended that this year's raises as legal and partially determined by two rating systems that will be replaced with a single performance system covering both categories of employees.

The provision is part of an $82 billion bill approved by the House on Thursday and scheduled for a vote in the Senate today.

TSP, on Average

Here's a snapshot from the Thrift Savings Plan, the 401(k)-type program for government employees that has been in operation for 18 years:

At the end of March, the average account balance for a TSP participant in the Federal Employees Retirement System was $52,864. The average account balance for an employee covered by the older Civil Service Retirement System was $43,755.

The average balance for military personnel, who were allowed into the TSP in 2002, was $5,069.

E-mail:barrs@washpost.com