Meanwhile, Congress is back at work for what likely will be a brief session to wrap up the year, providing one last chance for legislators to take a position on the pay raise before January. Among the unfinished spending bills is the Transportation-Treasury measure that as currently written authorizes a 2.7 percent raise. There remains a chance that Congress will take up and pass that bill, or possibly bundle it into an “omnibus” spending bill that would set spending levels for the rest of the current fiscal year. If that happened and President Bush signed the higher number into law, it would override his order. However, earlier spending bills set a 2.2 percent increase for the military and that action, combined with the presidential order, would make it difficult for Congress to go with the higher number. Also, there’s a general expectation that Congress in its remaining time will not pass appropriations but rather will approve only another stopgap “continuing resolution” that would carry into sometime early in the new year. Such a measure likely would take no position on the pay raise, leaving the presidentially ordered 2.2 percent increase to take effect.