In recent years the ECI figure alone has effectively become the starting point for annual raise deliberations, and locality pay has been carved out of the total amount enacted. Earlier this year President Bush recommended a total January 2008 raise of 3 percent, reflecting the ECI figure for the pertinent measuring period for that raise. For several years up until last year, a law mandating that military personnel get a half percentage point above the ECI number helped pull federal raises up to that amount in the name of pay parity. That law is now expired, and last year Congress did not keep to that formula while setting the 2007 military and federal raises. However, Congress this year has returned to that formula, moving toward approving 3.5 percent for both groups for 2008. Also, language in a House-passed DoD spending bill would reinstate the half-percentage point kicker for military personnel through 2012, which would lay the groundwork for comparable boosts for federal employees.