Lawmakers push for military-civilian pay parity in 2005

Washington, D.C.-area House lawmakers are planning to introduce a resolution in early February to support military-civilian pay parity.

The "Sense of Congress" resolution-which is being pushed by the bipartisan Washington regional delegation-would not set salary levels, but would demonstrate lawmakers' support for the measure. The delegation is led by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va.

In President Bush's fiscal 2004 budget proposal, military personnel were awarded a 4.1 percent pay increase, but civil servants received only a 2 percent raise. Congress overruled Bush and granted 4.1 percent pay boosts to military and civilian federal workers. The legislation awarding those pay raises-the fiscal 2004 omnibus spending bill-was passed Jan. 22. Federal workers will receive retroactive salary after Bush signs an executive order implementing the pay increases.

Although it is not binding, Hoyer called the legislation proposed for February a "key step" toward achieving pay parity.

According to Hoyer, there's a 32 percent pay gap between civilian federal employees and their private sector counterparts.

One week after voting to approve military-civilian pay parity in 2004, a group of six senators began pushing Bush on Wednesday to include equal pay increases for federal workers in his fiscal 2005 budget proposal, which will go to Congress Feb. 2.

The letter was signed by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, as well as Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.; Paul Sarbanes, D-Md.; George Allen, R-Va.; John Warner, R-Va.; and Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii.

"Civilian and military employees both play critical roles in ensuring our nation's safety and well-being, and we urge you to recognize their contributions with equal pay," the letter stated.

The senators said the government is facing a "human capital crisis" and the majority of potential replacements are not particularly interested in joining the federal workforce: "Providing inequitable pay for civilian employees as compared to those in our military would only serve to perpetuate this lack of interest."

The National Treasury Employees Union applauded the senators and the campaign for pay parity.

"As they said in their letter, these senators understand well that both a fair federal pay raise and military-civilian pay parity are not partisan issues," said NTEU President Colleen Kelley. "I applaud their recognition of the critical impact that adequate and fair pay continues to have on the federal government's ability to attract and retain the high-quality employees the government needs."