The House committee also said it: will consider legislation that would allow federal agencies to repay student loan debt for employees on a tax-free basis; favors providing a full cost-of-living adjustment to federal retirees in January 2006; favors allowing retirees to pay their Federal Employees Health Benefits premiums with pre-tax money; and will consider legislation that would allow all federal workers in the Washington, D.C. area to get tax-free transit benefits (many agencies in that area already provide such benefits, averaging about $1,000 annually, under a now-expired order from President Clinton); supports personnel reforms such as those underway at the Defense and Homeland Security departments; and supports the administration’s competitive sourcing—contracting-out—program.