Pay Raise Moves to Next Step

Both the House and Senate have passed their own versions of a budget outline for the fiscal year that starts in October, with differences over the federal pay raise for January 2009 to be resolved after Congress returns to work in early April from a recess. The budget resolution cleared by the House expresses the sense of the House that pay parity should be maintained in 2009 between federal employees and uniformed military personnel—a provision that, if accepted by the Senate, would work to the benefit of federal employees as it has in many recent prior years. The Senate version, while silent on pay parity, recommends a 3.4 percent raise for military personnel, the same amount proposed by the White House. That figure would not necessarily be the last word, though, since many members of Congress support a 3.9 percent military raise, which if accepted would benefit federal employees, as well, if pay parity is continued.