In recent years, the White House has tried to move the government away from across-the-board raises.
It has proposed such raises in the 1-2 percent range, arguing that inflation is running at about that
rate, while asking Congress for additional funds for performance-based raises. Last year the total
request was for $500 million, which amounts to about a half-percentage point of federal payroll, to be
split between additional funding in agency budgets and the central
