Spending bill funds pay raise, child care, contraceptive coverage

House and Senate members have signed off on a fiscal 2002 Treasury-Postal spending bill that includes a bevy of provisions affecting federal employees. The $17.1 billion Treasury-Postal appropriations bill, approved in conference committee late Thursday, is now headed to the Senate and House floors for approval. Conferees decided to make permanent a pilot program giving agencies the authority to use appropriated funds to help lower-income employees cover the costs of child care in on-site federal facilities or licensed child care centers. The current child care subsidy pilot program, which Congress authorized in September 1999, must be extended every year. It was extended in December 2000, but its current legislative authority ran out on Sept. 30. If approved, the bill would also give members of Congress a pay raise, which would raise the cap on Senior Executive Service salaries. Under law, congressional pay automatically increases each January, but members who oppose the pay increase often use the annual Treasury-Postal bill to block the raise. This year, no lawmaker tacked on a provision to block the raise in either the House or Senate versions of the bill, meaning the pay raise is set to go through. Because their salary increases are tied to congressional pay, SES members will finally get some long-awaited wiggle room in their salaries. Currently, pay caps keep executives at the top three of the six SES pay levels at the same salary level. In eight cities, federal executives at the top four levels are all paid the same. Senate and House negotiators also signed off on a requirement for federal employee health plans. Under the provision, health plans that cover prescription drugs must also pay for prescription contraceptives. The prescription contraceptives provision has been included in the last three Treasury-Postal appropriations bills, but President Bush asked in his budget request that it be dropped this year. However, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., who has added the measure in previous Treasury-Postal spending bills, succeeded again this year in adding the provision to the bill. President Bush was also denied the level of funding he requested for his e-government management initiative. Conferees allocated $5 million to the interagency e-government fund, just one-quarter of the $20 million amount initially requested by the President for fiscal 2002.