Key Panels Support Pay Parity

Meanwhile, the two committees with primary jurisdiction over federal employee matters—in the House, Government Reform, and in the Senate, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs—both have issued statements in favor of pay parity. The House panel said the raises for civilian and military personnel “should be viewed in light of the fact that Congress has provided equal adjustments in the compensation of members of the uniformed services and the compensation of civilian employees of the United States in nearly every year over the last two decades as a means under the federal schedule system to help achieve pay comparability between the public and private sector. Our ultimate goal is a compensation system that is more market and performance sensitive, that more effectively and responsibly allocates our human capital expenditures, and provides managers with the necessary tools to recruit, retain and reward the individuals necessary to carry out the mission of the federal government. Absent that new system, parity in pay adjustments remains the vehicle to achieve pay comparability under the general schedule in 2006.”