Bush issues order implementing pay raise

President Bush issued an executive order Wednesday officially implementing a 4.1 percent average pay raise for civilian federal employees in 2004.

Congress passed the raise in its 2004 omnibus appropriations bill, which Bush signed into law Jan. 23. The raise could not go into effect, however, until the president issued the executive order to implement it. Federal employees have been receiving a 2 percent pay raise in the first few months of 2004 based on a stopgap executive order Bush issued on Dec. 30, 2003.

Under Bush's order, 2.7 percent of the 2004 raise will go to an across-the-board salary increase and 1.4 percent will be devoted to locality pay.

In connection with the order, the Bush administration issued official pay tables showing how the raise would be implemented in various federal pay systems, and the rates of locality pay in metropolitan areas around the country.

Federal employees will still have to wait for individual agencies to adjust their pay systems to implement the raise. Last year, when there was a similar delay in implementing the raise, some employees didn't receive their full raises until the late spring.

In his fiscal 2004 budget request, Bush sought a 2 percent pay raise for civil servants and a new $500 million Human Capital Performance Fund to reward top civilian federal workers. At the same time, the administration proposed a 4.1 percent pay raise for military personnel.

In January, Congress rejected that formula and provided both civilian and military personnel with a 4.1 percent increase.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., criticized the delay in issuing the order.

"It is unfortunate that it took so long for the administration to issue this executive order," Hoyer said. "The order should have been issued immediately following the president signing the omnibus appropriations bill into law."

National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley criticized Bush in late February for delaying the order, saying that Bush "needs to do what Congress has authorized." The American Federation of Government Employees Thursday issued tongue-in-cheek praise for the order.

"AFGE is glad that the president finally found the time to pay the people who work for the public good every day," AFGE President John Gage said.

Bush is now locked in a struggle with Congress over the fiscal 2005 pay raise. The White House and a cadre of House Republicans have said that the country cannot afford to give federal civilian and military workers an equal 3.5 percent pay raise. Other lawmakers are adamant that pay parity be provided. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickles, Okla., included language in his proposed fiscal 2005 budget resolution that requires equal pay raises for military personnel and civil servants.