Some Twists on Raise

The 1.7 percent across-the-board component acts as a cap on congressional pay, but the budget “continuing resolution” bars members of Congress from receiving their raise until February 16. The presumption is that by then, the new Democratic leadership will have made good on its promise to raise the national minimum wage. Congressional pay is linked to pay for political appointees under the executive schedule system, whose levels in turn act as pay caps for career employees in several high-level pay systems, most numerously in the SES. The budget measure speaks only of delaying congressional pay, leaving open whether a 1.7 percent raise will be paid in January for the executive schedule, in turn raising the pay caps. Further guidance will be coming on that issue. Raises for SES members are performance-based and are not automatic, even for those up against a pay cap; raises for other high-level employees affected by the caps typically are finalized in a late-December executive order.