One policy change regarding retention payments authorized under the bill would allow agencies to make
those payments when employees are considered at risk of leaving for another federal agency, and not
just for non-federal employment as under current policy. Numerous agencies have complained that special
pay authorities elsewhere in government are luring away their employees, creating a situation in which
agencies are competing against each other for workers. The bill as passed includes an amendment offered
by House Democrats at the committee level that the Office of Personnel Management monitor use of
retention bonuses used in inter-agency competition. Said a Democratic statement that accompanied the
bill,
