By Stephen Barr
Tuesday, March 4, 2008

It's the start of budget season on Capitol Hill.

Congressional budget committees begin writing their fiscal 2009 spending plans this week, no doubt tossing out and reshaping many of President Bush's priorities. Democrats and Republicans -- especially because it's an election year -- will be jousting over spending, taxes, health care, Social Security and other entitlements.

It's uncertain where federal employees will end up in this debate.

Take next year's federal pay raise. The president has proposed a 2.9 percent raise for federal employees and a 3.4 percent raise for the military, knowing that Congress prefers to provide equal pay raises to both groups.

In letters to budget committees, Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) reiterated that Congress traditionally supports parity in pay adjustments between civilian and military personnel.

Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called it "unfortunate that the president has not embraced Congress's longstanding policy of pay parity for military and civilian employees." Davis, the committee's ranking member, said he was "highly discouraged the president has chosen to abandon the principle of pay parity."

Neither Waxman nor Davis made a specific pay recommendation to the House Budget Committee. Collins, the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, commended Bush's proposed raise for the military, adding that it is "my strong view that federal civilian employees should be equally recognized for their efforts."

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, did not mention the 2009 government-wide pay issue in his letter to the Senate Budget Committee.

Lieberman, though, said the 43,000 passenger and baggage screeners at the Transportation Security Administration, who are in a performance-based pay system, should not lose out on the government-wide pay raise approved by Congress each year.

"Other DHS" -- Department of Homeland Security -- "employees in security, protective and law enforcement-related organizations at the department receive the annual government-wide pay increase, and there is no reason to give TSA screeners less," Lieberman wrote.

Lieberman said he opposes a White House budget proposal to repeal legislation, signed by Bush last year, that provides a law enforcement retirement benefit to Customs and Border Protection officers. Even though CBP officers carry weapons and make arrests, it was not until last year that Congress acted to provide them with more generous retirement benefits.

Noting that Bush proposes increasing the size of the Border Patrol by 2,200 officers, Lieberman said Customs and Border Protection also is understaffed at border crossings and other ports of entry. Bush would enlarge CBP by 212 officers, but Lieberman called for hiring more.

In his letter, Lieberman focused primarily on the Department of Homeland Security, pointing out what he considers to be funding shortfalls at the TSA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Waxman took issue with an array of Bush initiatives, including a pilot project that the White House said would provide incentives for federal agencies to sell off surplus property. Waxman said he wanted to retain preferences that put federal agencies and homeless shelters at the front of the line to claim surplus government property. Davis, meanwhile, proposed expanding investment options in the Thrift Savings Plan, the 401(k)-type program for federal employees. Any new options should include a real estate stock investment fund, he said.

Nanci E. Langley was nominated by the president last week to become a commissioner of the Postal Regulatory Commission, which oversees certain aspects of U.S. Postal Service operations, including postage increases.

Langley has been director of the office of public affairs and government relations at the commission. Before joining the commission, she served as a longtime adviser to Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) and was deputy staff director of the Senate subcommittee on oversight of government management, the federal workforce and the District of Columbia.

The nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

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