Congress approves 4.8 percent federal pay raise

The Senate Thursday morning approved a 4.8 percent pay raise for federal employees as part of the fiscal 2000 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill, clearing the pay raise for the President's signature.

The House approved the raise on Wednesday evening. The raise for civilians is the same as the 4.8 percent raise for military personnel included in the fiscal 2000 Defense authorization bill, which also cleared the House on Wednesday.

President Clinton originally proposed a 4.4 percent pay raise for civilians in 2000, but Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., convinced lawmakers to push the raise up to 4.8 percent during Senate-House negotiations over the Treasury appropriations bill.

House conservatives had opposed the higher pay raise. "The money that is going to be used to enhance the federal employees is far above the level of the other people's average salary," Rep. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said Wednesday.

Despite Coburn's objection, the House approved the bill and the pay raise by a 292-126 vote. The Senate passed the bill 54-38.