Prospects for action will depend in part on the outcome of the elections. Image: Orhan Cam/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffWhen Congress returns after the elections from its current recess, it will have only a matter of weeks to make decisions on a range of federal workplace-related proposals, some of which have been pending since early last year, before the new Congress convenes in January and the legislative process toward enacting them would have to restart from the beginning.
Prospects for action will depend in part on the outcome of the elections—in particular, whether Republicans gain control of one or both chambers which would greatly reduce, if not kill, prospects in the new Congress for enactment of many Democratic-sponsored initiatives.
Foremost among those is a proposal to put in law a ban against repeating the creation by a future executive order of an excepted service category for policy-related positions now in the career competitive service. The most likely route to enactment of that language—which a few Republicans have supported—would be as an attachment to the DoD authorization bill. The House already has added such a provision to its version and a move to do the same is planned by some Senate Democrats when the bill comes to a vote there in the post-election session.
Another key issue regarding that bill is language in the House version, but not the Senate version, for a 2.4 percent of salary “inflation bonus pay” boost in 2023 for DoD employees with basic pay rates of $45,000 or less. That has raised questions of equity, however, because it would apply only to DoD employees and while federal unions support it, the White House opposes it.
Because the defense bill is a “must-pass” annual measure, it often becomes the vehicle for government-wide policy changes in addition to changes affecting only the DoD workforce. The AFGE union for example, is urging addition of long-proposed language expanding who qualifies for special retirement provisions for law enforcement officers.
Also still to be resolved is funding for the remainder of the current fiscal year after the current stopgap measure expires December 16. It’s widely expected that the needed appropriations bills once again would be combined into an “omnibus.” That would include the general government appropriations bill, which is the vehicle for setting the January 2023 federal employee pay raise if Congress were to set one. However, so far it has remained silent, effectively allowing the 4.6 percent average raise proposed by President Biden to take effect by default.
There have been instances in similar past situations in which another stopgap was enacted, pushing final decisions to the new Congress; whether that happens is largely a matter of the political calculus.
Other workplace-related issues that might see a late push include long-standing proposals to expand bargaining rights for certain VA employees, to expand whistleblower protections for certain law enforcement and intelligence employees, and to eliminate two offsets to Social Security benefits applying to those retired under CSRS.
Both the DoD and the general government appropriations bills already contain numerous relatively minor changes or continuations of policies that need to be reauthorized each year. Other bills that have made some progress also often are moved to quick enactment in a post-election session so long as they don’t face substantial opposition.
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