Key Vote on Pay Raise Coming

The House and Senate are continuing to work out differences on a budget blueprint for the fiscal year that starts in October, with one issue to be settled being a recommendation for the January 2005 federal pay raise. The Senate version advocates maintaining parity with raises for military personnel, who are due to get a 3.5 percent increase in January. While the House version was silent on the raise, the House separately voted in favor of pay parity as well, setting the stage for including the language in the final version of the budget resolution. The budget measure is not binding; however it puts Congress on record as favoring continued pay parity for at least another year. The actual raise will be set in the appropriations process, which follows passage of the budget resolution.