So far President Obama has not issued an order regarding a federal employee pay raise for January, an action that is optional under federal pay law. Such orders, which must be issued by the end of August, set a raise that would take effect by default if no law is passed by the end of a calendar year addressing a raise. So far the budget measures in progress generally are silent regarding a raise, while one Senate measure involving DoD does specifically endorse the 1 percent raise the White House proposed earlier this year. If Obama does issue an order—which is needed under pay law to prevent a much larger raise from taking effect automatically in the absence of a number being set in the annual budget process–that would be the most natural figure to be recommended. However even if an order is issued, a later law setting a different figure, including zero, would override it.
