The House Appropriations Committee soon is expected to approve a 3.5 percent average general schedule pay raise for federal employees in January 2008, following approval of that amount by the financial services-general government subcommittee. The amount would match the figure progressing through Congress for military personnel. In past similar situations, the Bush administration has opposed boosting the raise—in this case, from the 3 percent it recommended—on cost grounds and by arguing that instead of across-the-board increases, raises should be better targeted to positions where the government is having trouble recruiting and retaining employees, and that agencies already have separate authority to do so. However, the spending bills typically are structured so that agencies have to absorb the additional cost of a higher raise out of other funds, so that boosting the raise does not show up on the bottom line as an additional expense.