Congress has adjourned for the year with one of its final actions having been to approve a budget measure that by remaining silent on a federal raise allows a 1 percent increase effective with the first full pay period of January—January 11 in most cases. The raise will be paid across the board with no differences by locality, under the presidential order setting the raise by default in the event no specific figure was set in law. A further order needed to formally set the new pay rates could come at any time. It will be the second straight year a 1 percent raise was paid through that fallback mechanism in federal pay law. As with the increase paid last January, the underlying rates for executive schedule levels for political appointees will rise for purposes of the pay caps applying to high-level career employees, but the appointees’ actual pay will remain frozen. The raise also won’t apply to Congress.