Boosting the federal raise from 3.1 percent to 4.1 percent would cost an estimated $1 billion in additional funds at a time when both the White House and the new congressional leadership is calling for fiscal restraint. Until now, funding measures for the current fiscal year, fiscal 2003, have held spending generally in line with fiscal 2002 levels. Those measures have not provided funds even for a 3.1 percent raise, meaning that agencies would have to absorb the cost of the raise out of their general overhead accounts. But agencies have been warning of disruptions-potentially including layoffs and furloughs–if their budgets are not increased and many of them have been ordered to take on new responsibilities, which also haven’t been funding. In such an environment, getting funding for the raise could be a difficult chore.