President Obama has issued an order that in effect provides for a 1 percent federal employee pay raise in January if no different figure (including zero) is passed into law before the end of this calendar year. The number reflects the amount the White House proposed earlier this year in its budget plan. The order is a routine move that was generally expected because Congress so far has made little progress on the regular appropriations bills where the raise, or lack of one, for the following year typically is specified. Most of those bills are silent on the raise–effectively an invitation for the White House to set the raise as 1 percent by default—although several specify that if a raise is paid, agencies would have to absorb the cost out of their general overhead accounts. One bill—a Senate measure covering DoD—does explicitly provide for 1 percent and designates money to cover the cost. Unlike in previous years, the House budget outline does not call for extending the salary rate freeze and the House has not voted in any stand-alone bills against a raise. A January 2014 raise would provide the first increase in pay rates since the raise paid in January 2010; some employees have had their pay frozen that entire time, while some have received within-grade raises or raises for promotion or performance. The amount would be paid across the board, with none of it designated as locality pay.
