2005 Pay Raise Advances in Senate

The Senate has passed a budget outline for fiscal 2005 that contains “sense of the Senate” language that federal employees should receive the same January 2005 raise as military personnel; under military pay law, uniformed personnel are due a 3.5 percent increase, 2 percentage points higher than the amount the White House requested for federal employees. The language states that “compensation for civilian and military employees of the United States, without whom we cannot successfully serve and protect our citizens and taxpayers, must be sufficient to support our critical efforts to recruit, retain, and reward quality people effectively and responsibly.” Meanwhile, the House Budget Committee has begun working on a counterpart measure that so far does not contain similar language; a pay parity amendment could be offered either during the committee voting or when the measure goes to the House floor.