Bush administration fights House move to provide 4.6 percent pay raise

The Bush administration is protesting a move by House appropriators to allocate enough money to give a 4.6 percent average pay raise in 2002 to civilian federal employees. President Bush has proposed a 3.6 percent raise for federal workers. The 2002 Transportation Appropriations Act, which the House Appropriations Committee approved last week, provides money for a 4.6 percent average raise for employees of the agencies covered by the act, including the Transportation Department, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Access Board. "Within the amounts provided, the committee assumes a 4.6 percent pay raise instead of the 3.6 percent pay raise requested in the [Bush] budget," the House Appropriations Committee's report accompanying the bill says. "The committee believes it is important to maintain pay parity between military and civilian workforces." John Scofield, a spokesman for the committee, said the congressional budget resolution calls for a 4.6 percent civilian raise, the same raise that President Bush proposed for military personnel. Civilian and military pay raises have been equivalent for 17 of the last 20 years. The 13 appropriations subcommittee chairmen are now deciding to either specifically allocate money for a higher raise, such as the Transportation panel did, or to make agencies carve money for a higher raise out of their budgets later. The 2002 Interior appropriations bill, for example, makes no mention of a pay raise amount. The Bush administration issued a statement in response to the Transportation bill that reiterated President Bush's request for a 3.6 percent average civilian pay raise. "We do not believe that military pay and civilian pay raises should necessarily be automatically linked," the statement said. "The additional cost of a governmentwide 4.6 percent civilian pay raise is nearly $900 million over what is currently included in the President's request, and would, if funded, divert critical resources from programs such as those funded in this bill." In addition to allocating money for a higher raise, appropriators could specifically order the Bush administration to give a 4.6 percent average raise to civilians. If Congress fails to issue such an order, the President could issue an executive order establishing a 3.6 percent average raise.