House Would Boost Foreign Service Jobs, Pay

House-passed legislation (HR-2410) would seeks to address a long-running issue among foreign service officers, who when they are sent overseas lose the salary adjustment they receive while stationed stateside, for the most part in the Washington-Baltimore area. While officers become eligible for various other forms of compensation overseas, in many cases they end up coming out behind in both salary and retirement benefits. The bill would make the higher rate the base rate for the foreign service, phased in starting 90 days after enactment and fully effective next October. It also would authorize the hiring of 1,500 additional officers over two years at State and another 700 at AID, revise recruitment and training programs, expand the situations in which foreign service retirees could be rehired without an offset between their salaries and annuities, and allow waivers of policies that have prevented officers with certain health conditions from being assigned to certain posts.