Standing pat on pay

The Bush administration is sticking by its recommended 3.6 percent average pay raise for federal workers next year, Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels said Wednesday. Talking to reporters after a luncheon address before a meeting of the American Association for Budget and Program Analysis, Daniels said the administration does not support a 4.6 percent average pay raise, as pushed by Washington area lawmakers. Bush proposed a 4.6 percent raise for military personnel, but administration officials argued that recent civilian benefits enhancements, including pre-tax health insurance premiums, mean that civilians should get a 1 percentage point lower average raise. "The 3.6 is what was in the budget for civilian pay and there is no change that I am aware of," OMB spokesman Chris Ullman said. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who spoke to the budget and program analysts earlier in the morning, said he expected President Bush to support a 4.6 percent raise for both military and civilian employees, but officials needed to figure out how to pay for a higher civilian raise. Hoyer said the President could approve the higher raise without legislation later this year. Daniels' repeated commitment to the 3.6 percent raise suggests the President is unlikely to increase the raise on his own. In that case, Hoyer said the 4.6 percent civilian raise would likely be included in the 2002 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill. Hoyer noted that Congress recommended the higher 4.6 percent raise in the 2002 budget resolution that lawmakers passed earlier this month. Hoyer ticked off the names of Washington area representatives-Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., Constance Morella, R-Md., Jim Moran, D-Va., and Albert Wynn, D-Md.--who are pushing for the 4.6 percent raise. Military TSP Accounts Federal workers who serve in the reserves don't have to worry about higher administrative expenses for their military Thrift Savings Plan accounts. In October, military personnel and reservists will be able to open TSP accounts for the first time. Federal workers who are reservists will be able to have two accounts, one civilian and one military. TSP officials say military and reservist accounts will incur the same low administrative expenses that civilian accounts incur-expenses that are far below costs for typical private-sector retirement savings programs. "The [TSP] board would not charge reservists' accounts differently from those of other participants," TSP Executive Director Roger W. Mehle said in a letter to lawmakers last year. When Congress was initially considering military TSP accounts, the board had considered charging a higher rate for reservists' accounts because the board expected few reservists to participate and little money to accumulate in their accounts, making reservist accounts "a profound waste of resources," in Mehle's words. But after review, the TSP board found that, administratively, charging a higher rate for reservist accounts wouldn't be worth the effort. So everyone will pay the same administrative fees.