Thursday, August 28, 2003

I received the following via email from my boss:

FEDweek Special Alert
Dated: Thursday, August 28, 2003

PRESIDENT BUSH SHOOTS FOR PAY RAISE CAP

President Bush has announced that he’ll invoke emergency powers to hold the federal pay raise to 2 percent in January. But before federal workers get too gloomy, they should realize that this is nothing new. It’s the tenth year in a row that the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has attempted to cap the raise. Bill Clinton did it seven times; Bush, now, three. His decision may be final, but Congress can still override it and approve a higher pay increase, as it has in the past. Feds won’t know what the final percentage raise will be until Congress acts on the 2004 treasury-postal appropriations bill. The situation should clarify by the beginning of the fiscal year—October 1. But that won’t stop the rumor mill from spreading the alarm.

Bush’s budget called for a 2 percent raise, but Congress wants a 4.1 percent increase for U.S. civil service employees—the same hike military personnel are expected receive.

Whatever the outcome, the President still has one more decision to make—how to allocate the raise between an across-the-board increase and locality raises. The percentage figure is an average. He could either declare that there will be no locality increases and settle on a percentage applying to every employee, or decide to set a basic raise for all with an additional amount by geographic area.

[via fedweek.com]