The House late Thursday night gave its approval to an automatic cost-of-living increase of 2.7 percent for lawmakers, effective Jan. 1, 2001. Because caps on pay for members of the Senior Executive Service are tied to congressional pay, the House action means that federal executives whose pay has reached the caps will get a boost in pay next year as well.
The $14.4 billion bill provides funding for the Treasury Department, the Postal Service and other federal agencies. The bill also included measures that would:
- Block the Clinton administration from implementing controversial ethical standards for private companies that want to bid on contracts with the federal government.
- Establish pay parity between administrative appeals judges and administrative jaw judges in agencies.
- Require that agencies report to Congress on how they track the personal information of those who visit government Web sites, and ban federal sites from using "cookies" software to gather user information.
- Fund a study exploring how employees can be provided at least six weeks paid parental leave upon birth or adoption of a child.
- Require that all current and newly hired workers in all child care centers located in federally owned or leased facilities undergo criminal background checks.
An amendment to repeal the 0.5 percent retirement contribution increase imposed on federal employees as a budget-reduction tactic in 1999 also passed. The temporary increase in employee contributions is currently not scheduled to end until 2002.
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