Raise Bills Still Hung Up

Congress returns next week from its Thanksgiving break facing a number of unfinished bills, including numerous appropriations bills, one of them the financial services-general government measure that could specify a 3.5 percent average federal employee raise in January. Because no number has been legislated, under federal pay law President Bush likely will issue an order later this week to prevent a raise from becoming effective automatically under federal pay law. That law would set an across-the-board component of 2.5 percent and an average locality increase of 12.58 percent, according to a congressional report. The most likely scenario is that the presidential order will set a national raise of 2.5 percent, with possibly an additional 0.5 percent as locality pay. A spending bill later signed into law containing some other number would override that amount, however. Thus, the order in essence would be a guarantee against a large raise in case of continued inaction on spending bills.