Many Ideas Fall by the Wayside

Congress has left behind numerous proposals favored by members of one party or the other, and in some cases by the Bush administration, that probably will have to await the new political leadership of 2009 for attention. Both chambers will return on November 17 for organizational meetings and may also take up substantive matters, depending on a variety of considerations, although federal employment matters likely would not be on the plate in any event. Among priority items for federal employees, the major achievement this year was to enact a pay raise effective with the first pay period of January averaging 3.9 percent. For general schedule employees, that likely will mean raises ranging from about 3.5 to about 5 percent, varying by locality, while increases for wage grade employees will once again be capped at the local GS amount. Raises for senior executives are paid on a performance-based system, up to a cap that will increase along with congressional pay by 2.8 percent. President Bush has signed into law (P.L. 110-372) a measure to increase pay caps for senior level and senior scientific and technical employees, and eliminate their eligibility for locality pay, but that change won’t take effect until April.