2.7 Percent Raise Suffers Another Setback

In another setback for prospects for setting the January 2007 federal pay raise at 2.7 percent, the Senate has joined the House in passing a DoD appropriations bill (HR-5631) providing only 2.2 percent for uniformed military personnel. A 2.7 percent raise for federal employees is in both versions of a separate appropriations bill, the Transportation-Treasury bill (HR-5576), that has passed the House and is pending in the Senate, but officials consider it unlikely that Congress would approve a higher raise for civilian employees than for uniformed personnel.