A 2.2 percent January 2004 pay increase for Congress, federal judges and top executive branch political appointees is on schedule for approval. The annual raise for those officials is set according to a different employment cost index measure than that used in setting federal employee raises and is automatic unless blocked. The main potential vehicle for blocking the raise is the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill, which this year is silent on the issue, effectively allowing the raise to proceed. When salaries in the executive schedule for political appointees are raised, there are corresponding increases in the salary caps applying in several high-level career pay systems, since those caps are tied to various executive schedule levels. The most commonly applied cap is the executive schedule level III rate, currently $142,500, which would go up by about $3,100 with a 2.2 percent increase.