Politics, Budget Procedures Involved

In passing the appropriations bill (HR-5576) specifying a 2.7 percent average general schedule increase, the House did not provide extra funds to pay for the additional cost; instead, agencies would have to absorb the cost out of the overhead “salaries and expenses” accounts that also pay for a myriad of other costs, including travel, training and office equipment. Congress has used that maneuver regularly to boost federal raises without appropriating more money for the increase. However, that is not an option on the military side, since the money for military raises comes from accounts that fund only pay, bonuses and the like. Thus, mandating a larger basic raise for uniformed personnel without appropriating more money would come at the cost of reducing other forms of their compensation. A political consideration also is involved: Capitol Hill officials say that it would be politically difficult grant a higher raise to civilian employees than to uniformed personnel during a war.