4.1 Percent Raise Marker Advances

A House Armed Services subcommittee has voted to set the January 2003 military raise at 4.1 percent, effectively setting a marker for the next federal employee raise. That figure is considered likely to hold up as the budget process moves forward, since the White House recommended that amount and a budget measure that Congress passed several years ago for military personnel also indicates that figure. Both the House and Senate budget resolutions for the upcoming fiscal year assume that federal employees-for whom the White House recommended an average 2.6 percent raise in January 2003-will get the same increase as military personnel. The full House has approved its version of that document but the Senate still has not brought its version to a vote. The budget resolutions, while not binding, act as guidance for the appropriations process that is just getting underway.