Congress Sets Military Pay Raise, Punts on Civil Service

By Stephen Barr
Tuesday, October 3, 2006

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.

It also expanded eligibility for Tricare, the military health insurance program, to allow members of the Selected Reserve -- those who train regularly -- to buy into the program when they are not on active duty. The legislation also prohibits any increase in Tricare enrollment premiums and in pharmacy co-payments in fiscal 2007.

As part of the legislation, Congress ordered the Pentagon to prepare a strategic plan to improve Defense's senior management and technical workforce, including scientists and engineers "in light of recent trends and projected changes in the mission."

Congressional aides are interested in learning how the department makes use of its senior-level civilians. Like other departments, Defense has a graying workforce, with substantial numbers of retirements expected in the next few years, and could have difficulty offsetting the loss of experienced hands, especially in science and engineering.

House-Senate negotiators dropped a provision that would have expanded protections to federal employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse. The White House opposed the provision, which was in the Senate's version of the bill.

Keeping Track of Homeland Security

Congress has asked the Department of Homeland Security to submit a spending plan for the troubled overhaul of its personnel system. In an unusual move, Congress directed the department to include a list of its contract obligations for the new system.

House-Senate negotiators on the fiscal 2007 appropriations bill for Homeland Security provided $25 million for the new system, MaxHR. The president's budget had sought about $42 million, but congressional aides said delays caused by court litigation mean the department can get along with less funding for the short term.

The spending bill will add 1,500 new Border Patrol officers, bringing that workforce to 14,800.

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.