Pay raise still up in air, but 4.1 percent likely

Federal employees are likely to receive a 4.1 percent average pay raise in 2003, but may have to wait a few weeks at the beginning of the year to get it.

The House Wednesday passed a continuing resolution keeping agencies open until Jan. 11. That measure does not include a pay raise. But Washington-area lawmakers said they were confident they could negotiate a 4.1 percent raise when Congress finally takes up the remaining federal spending bills early next year.

"I spoke with Speaker Dennis Hastert [R-Ill.] today and after those discussions, I am optimistic that we will be successful in securing a 4.1 percent pay adjustment for federal employees in January, consistent with the actions of the House earlier this year, and that the pay adjustment will be retroactive to the beginning of 2003," said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., in a statement issued Wednesday.

The House in July approved a 4.1 percent average raise for civilian employees as part of the fiscal 2003 Treasury-Postal Appropriations bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee also approved the pay raise in its version of the fiscal 2003 Treasury-Postal bill, but the full Senate still needs to vote on that spending measure.

In the nine months since President Bush issued his fiscal 2003 budget proposal, which included a 2.6 percent pay raise for civilian employees and a 4.1 percent raise for military service members, Congress has worked to get employees a 3.1 percent across-the-board increase plus a 1 percent average locality-based increase.

But Congress' inability to pass the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill that would make the 4.1 percent average pay raise official forced Hoyer and Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., Albert Wynn, D-Md., Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Jim Moran, D-Va., to make a separate attempt at securing the raise for federal employees.

"We will not allow the federal employees charged with defending our homeland to fall victim to the appropriations impasse," Davis said. "Speaker Hastert has assured us that come 2003, federal workers will get the pay adjustment that we all agree they deserve."

Currently Congress is focused on completing homeland security legislation and 11 fiscal 2003 appropriations bills. A multi-bill omnibus package, which will likely be passed when the current CR expires, would finish up fiscal 2003 appropriations. The five Washington-area lawmakers lobbied for inclusion in that package of a 4.1 percent average pay raise for federal employees that would be retroactive to Jan. 1.

"I appreciate Speaker Hastert's support for a 4.1 percent pay adjustment for federal employees in 2003," Wolf said. "I will work closely with my House and Senate colleagues to ensure that we provide in January the adjustment to federal employees agreed to by both the House and Senate."