Pay Parity Effort Suffers Setback

This year’s version of the annual effort to bring the upcoming year’s federal raise up to the level slated for the military in the name of pay parity has suffered a setback, although not necessarily a fatal one, in the House Budget Committee. Departing from its previous practice, the committee rejected an amendment that to endorse setting the January 2005 federal raise at the 3.5 percent that military personnel stand to receive. Committee Republicans voted against the amendment, arguing that the size of the raise is a matter for appropriations committees, not the budget panel. However, a similar amendment might be offered in House floor voting on the budget blueprint for fiscal 2005, supported by several Republicans who are leaders in civil service issues. Also, the Senate already has passed a counterpart measure that includes the pay parity language. Even if the Senate version did not prevail, the appropriations panels could act on their own to continue pay parity; the language in the annual budget plan however provided political cover for them to do so.