Federal employees facing disciplinary action generally would no longer be put on paid administrative leave during the investigation and notice of proposed action periods, under a bill (S-2450) approved by the committee. Instead, they normally would be reassigned or put on telework. The bill is a reaction to a GAO report and congressional scrutiny of employees being put on such leave for extended periods, sometimes exceeding a year, often while the agency prepares disciplinary action–including, in some cases, actions that the bill sponsors say amount to retaliation against whistleblowers. Meanwhile, legislation introduced in the House (HR-4488) would extend to TSA screeners the normal federal employee bargaining rights, whistleblower protections, civil rights protections and appeal rights. Sponsors argue that the experience has shown that there is no need for the restrictions in those areas, which were imposed under the law that created the agency more than a decade ago out of components of two dozen others. Also, several Democrats have committed to sponsoring a bill to boost the January 2017 federal pay raise to 5.3 percent from the 1.6 percent President Obama has recommended.