While a House-Senate conference on the DoD authorization bill will address pay-for-performance in a proposed new DoD pay system, it also could address creation of a government-wide pay-for-performance fund as the administration has requested. The House version of the DoD bill (HR-1588) would create the proposed $500 million fund, while the Senate version (S-1050) would not. Meanwhile, the House bill contains language supporting parity in January 2004 raises between federal employee raises and those going to uniformed military personnel. While no formal parity figure has been set, the assumption is that it will be the 3.7 percent amount that all military personnel would get under the Senate bill and that virtually all would get in the House bill. Also unclear is whether the performance fund would be in addition to the money to be made available for the federal employee raise or whether it would be carved out of that money. Meanwhile, Congress has begun the process of writing appropriations bills that actually contain the money for agency operations in fiscal 2004, including the funds for the pay raise, and congressional supporters of pay parity have asked the appropriations committee to maintain parity in those bills.