Funding Could Be Tight, Though

One force working against acceptance of a 4.1 percent increase is the desire by the new Senate Republican leadership to hold overall spending within targets set by the White House. With the spending bills covering defense functions already enacted into law, that effectively means a need to cut $10 billion or more from domestic spending levels of around $350 billion set last year when Democrats controlled the Senate. With each percentage point on the federal raise costing about $1 billion, there will be pressure to keep the raise to 3.1 percent. In similar past situations, Congress has ordered agencies to absorb the cost from their other spending. This year, with budgets already tight, such an order could translate into pressure to hold down or even reduce employment levels.