Congress Sets Military Pay Raise, Punts on Civil Service

Hours before wrapping up for its campaign break, Congress nailed down a 2.2 percent pay raise for the armed forces but left resolution of the federal employee raise to a lame-duck session next month.

The pay raise was approved late last week by the House and Senate as part of the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill, which sets out policy and personnel goals for the Defense Department. The across-the-board raise will take effect in January, and additional raises for senior enlisted personnel and warrant officers will begin in April.

The House version of the bill had called for a 2.7 percent across-the-board military raise, but House and Senate negotiators chose to go with the Senate's proposed 2.2 percent increase, which matched the adjustment approved by Congress in an appropriations bill.

Veterans and employee groups decried the pay decision as meager.

"We're extremely disappointed, to put it mildly, that Congress couldn't see its way clear to provide more than a 2.2 percent pay raise for the troops who are putting their lives on the line every day for the rest of America," said Steve Strobridge , director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America.

"That's the smallest military raise in 13 years," he noted.

Colleen M. Kelley , president of the National Treasury Employees Union, called the 2.2 percent raise "a shameful decision during a time of war."

In his 2007 budget request, President Bush recommended a 2.2 percent raise for the military and the civil service.

The House, however, approved a 2.7 percent raise for federal employees, and a Senate bill, which did not reach the floor, also has proposed a 2.7 percent civil service raise.

Congress, in most recent years, has followed a "pay parity" approach to raises, ensuring equal average salary increases for the military and the civil service. Given that history, Congress may scale back the federal employee raise when it returns in mid-November to take up unfinished spending bills. Congress also may be reluctant to give government civilians a larger raise than the troops because of their sacrifices in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a statement, Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that the defense authorization bill had won bipartisan support and predicted that it would improve the quality of life for members of the armed forces and their families.

The legislation provides for more than 20 types of bonuses and special payments aimed at encouraging enlistment and re-enlistment, the committee said.