Major Bills Still in Progress

By: fedweek

Congress expects a busy month of work before its August recess, during which it will address several remaining appropriations bills for the fiscal year that starts October 1. The Senate has yet to produce its financial services-general government measure; the House-passed version of that bill (HR-2829) would set the January 2008 general schedule raise at an average of 3.5 percent and continue several long-standing restrictions on contracting-out and policies regarding the FEHB program. The Senate also is expected to soon take up its version of the annual DoD authorization bill. The House-passed version (HR-1585) would repeal the department’s authority to restrict union rights and revamp adverse action procedures and employee appeal rights, while requiring that a revised pay system under NSPS be subject to union negotiations. The Senate version (S-1547) would not go as far but it would repeal the authority under NSPS to curtail union rights in numerous areas, including the scope of allowable bargaining, and also would bar DoD from putting wage grade employees into the system.