Work on '07 Pay Raises May Come Later Rather Than Sooner

Congress usually adopts a "pay parity" policy when it comes to the government's annual salary increases, providing the civil service and the military with the same percentage raise in base pay, effective each January. But it appears that the 2007 raises won't be sorted out until much later in the year.

Before going into the zigs and zags on Capitol Hill, it's important to note that the president's budget, released in February, is the starting point for the annual pay raise deliberations. For next year, the president proposed a 2.2 percent pay raise for the civil service and the military.

The first bill that came up in Congress did not follow the White House's pay recommendation, however.

The House's fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill, approved in May, called for a 2.7 percent military pay raise. The measure also would target mid-grade and senior enlisted and warrant officers, who are hard to retain, for additional pay raises starting April 1, 2007.

Last week, the Senate provided a 2.2 percent across-the-board raise for military personnel in its authorization bill. It also revamped the military pay scale in an effort to provide higher raises, which would vary by grade and length of service, for senior enlisted and warrant officers.

The House, meanwhile, went down different paths in appropriations bills.

On June 20, the House voted for a 2.2 percent raise for the military, as part of a defense appropriations bill. And, the week before, the House approved a 2.7 percent raise for the civil service in another appropriations bill.

No word on what the Senate Appropriations Committee plans for civil service and military raises. Those spending bills are not scheduled for a markup until next month.

As a general rule, appropriations bills are taken as the last word, since they provide the money available for spending each year by agencies. Authorization bills set policy for programs and keep agencies in business, and Congress especially tries to keep the defense authorization and appropriations bills in sync each year, in part because that helps the Pentagon juggle long- and short-term priorities.

Congress also likes tradition. It has approved parity increases for the civil service and the military in most years over the last two decades, with lawmakers highlighting the sacrifices of the military and the vital work performed by employees at the Homeland Security Department, the CIA, the FBI, and at science and research agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health.

The fate of the pay raises, like other legislative differences, will be left to House and Senate negotiators, who strike compromises and write final versions. Stay tuned.

OMB: 45 Days for Security Reviews

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The Office of Management and Budget yesterday asked federal agencies to review their safeguards to protect sensitive data, including names and Social Security numbers, within the next 45 days.