House approves 4.1 percent pay raise for federal employees

The House on Wednesday voted to give federal civilian employees a 4.1 percent pay raise in 2003.

The pay raise, included in the fiscal 2003 Treasury-Postal Appropriations bill, provides civilian employees with the same percentage increase as members of the military. The Bush administration had proposed a 2.6 percent raise for civilian workers in 2003. They received a 4.6 percent pay raise in 2002.

The House version of the Treasury-Postal bill, which passed 306 to 121 on Wednesday afternoon, allocated $34.8 billion in fiscal 2003 for the Treasury Department, Postal Service and general government operations.

The Senate Appropriations Committee last week also approved a 4.1 percent pay raise for civilian employees in its version of the bill. The full Senate still needs to vote on it.

The House bill also included a bipartisan amendment sponsored by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., that would stop the Office of Management and Budget from making agencies designate a percentage of their jobs for possible outsourcing. The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the same provision.

During debate on the House floor Wednesday, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., said he supported the administration's competitive sourcing effort, but not the use of "arbitrary" numbers as targets. Davis voted for Moran's amendment.

As part of President Bush's management agenda, the Office of Management and Budget has directed agencies to compete or outsource 15 percent of their commercial jobs by October 2003.

OMB Director Mitch Daniels has said he would recommend that President Bush veto any legislation that curtails the competitive sourcing initiative.

The House version of the spending bill also contained an amendment sponsored by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, that requires insurance companies participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to submit to the same cost accounting standards as other government contractors. The plan provides health coverage for about 9 million federal employees, their families and retirees.

Other provisions in the House Treasury-Postal spending bill allocate hundreds of millions of dollars for technology upgrades at the IRS and the Customs Service. The bill provides $319.6 million for Customs' Automated Commercial Environment, which would modernize the agency's import-processing system, and provides the IRS with more than $1.6 billion for telecommunications and information technology equipment. The bill also provides $5 million to boost the administration's e-government initiatives.