Civil Service, Military Raises Moved Along Separate Tracks

The Senate Appropriations Committee signed off yesterday on a 2.7 percent pay raise for the civil service for next year, but a key senator cautioned that the proposal might be adjusted to 2.2 percent if Congress decides that is the appropriate increase for the military.

In most years, Congress provides annual raises of an equal size to the civil service and the military. But the raises have moved on separate tracks this year, with House and Senate defense appropriators proposing a 2.2 percent raise for the armed forces and the House and Senate appropriators with the transportation and Treasury subcommittee recommending a 2.7 percent raise for the civil service.

Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), manager of the Senate bill with the civil service raise, told colleagues that, given the difference with the proposed military raise, senators might be asked to "bring civilian pay down to that level."

The pay raise will probably be decided in closed-door negotiations or through an amendment when the fiscal 2007 spending bill for the Defense Department comes to the Senate floor, congressional aides suggested. Although no schedule for floor action has been set, lawmakers usually prefer to act on defense and homeland security bills before other funding priorities.

President Bush called for a 2.2 percent raise for both groups in his 2007 budget plan. This year, federal employees received an average 3.1 percent raise.

The Office of Management and Budget has said that a 2.2 percent raise would continue to allow the government to meet its recruitment and staffing needs and that a higher raise would divert money from critical programs.

But federal unions have lobbied for a higher raise, saying "fair pay" will make the government more competitive in recruiting as baby boomers retire. Federal projections show that agencies could lose 61,000 full-time workers in fiscal 2008, with retirements running at similar levels through 2010.

In dealing with workforce compensation, Congress has followed a policy known as "pay parity" when providing raises to the civil service and the military, in part to recognize that both groups, as Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) said yesterday, often work "side by side in defense of our nation's homeland security."

But it's clear this year's bills were not crafted side by side.

The House in May approved a 2.7 percent military raise as part of the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill, then in June approved a 2.2 percent military raise in a defense appropriations bill. The Senate has approved 2.2 percent raises in both bills.

The House, meanwhile, approved a 2.7 percent civil service raise in June, and the Senate Appropriations Committee also adopted the proposal yesterday in its version of the transportation-Treasury bill.

Colleen M. Kelley , president of the National Treasury Employees Union, expressed confidence that lawmakers would rally around a 2.7 percent parity raise. "I fully expect that Congress will recognize the contributions of our military personnel and take the necessary steps to provide them with a 2.7 percent pay raise," she said.