Key Bill Up for Floor Votes

Both the House and Senate plan floor votes this week on their versions of the Defense Department authorization bill for fiscal 2005, a measure that among other things will determine whether DoD goes ahead with the planned round of base closings next year. The version that emerged from the House Armed Services Committee imposes several reporting and other restrictions that in effect would delay the process by two years; a floor amendment to stop the process entirely is possible. The House version also would continue several restrictions on converting civilian jobs to contractor performance at DoD, which conducts most of the government’s contracting-out. The measure further would require DoD to study whether certain jobs already contracted-out should be brought back in-house and states the sense of Congress that employees should have the right to appeal contracting decisions. The Senate version does not contain comparable language. Both versions would set the January 2005 military pay raise at 3.5 percent, a figure that will act as the marker for the federal employee raise if Congress follows its earlier-stated intention to keep pay parity between the two groups.