New Pay Raise Figure Comes into Play: 3.1 Percent

President Bush’s decision to not issue an alternative raise recommendation as allowed by federal pay law has put a new figure into the January 2003 federal pay raise mix: 3.1 percent. Under the federal pay law, that’s the amount that would be payable by default should Congress fail to specify a raise figure in a spending bill for the upcoming fiscal year. However, that figure likely will have relatively little significance as a practical matter, since both House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2003 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill specify a 4.1 percent increase. The House has passed its version and the Senate could vote on its own version at any time. Although it remains possible that the raise figure will be changed, it’s virtually certain that the measure will specify some figure, making the default figure of 3.1 percent a moot point.