Pay raise may not kick in until next spring
A 3.5 percent civil service raise is likely to pass, House Democratic leader says, but probably not in time to take effect in January.
Federal employees are likely to get the same 3.5 percent pay raise as military personnel in 2005, but congressional wrangling may keep workers from seeing a bigger pay check until the spring, according to House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
In remarks at the National Press Club Tuesday morning, Hoyer said, Congress is unlikely to complete work on fiscal 2005 spending bills in time for the raise to take effect in January. As a result, Hoyer says, government will be funded at current levels -- because of continuing budget resolutions -- until the spending bills are approved.
In addition, federal employees might have to wait until as late as next spring when a budget is approved to get their raise. The pay increase would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2005, so employees would not lose money.
The Bush administration has called for the military to receive a 3.5 percent pay raise next year because of the strain of continual overseas deployments. But the White House sought only a 1.5 percent raise for federal workers with an eye toward keeping down federal spending.
Congress, however, has indicated that it will give civilians the same raise as the military. The House Appropriations Committee backed pay parity in July, while the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Treasury and Transportation recently approved the increase in the proposed budget.
Hoyer, meanwhile, slammed the Bush administration for outsourcing work in Iraq and said prison abuses occurred there because too much work has been turned over to contractors and the military has "lost control."
Congress is unlikely to place any limits on outsourcing, because Republican leaders in the House and Senate oppose it.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., plans to propose an amendment to the fiscal 2005 Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill that would prevent the Bush administration from using new outsourcing rules for federal jobs that he says put federal employees at a disadvantage.
The White House has said it will veto the bill if that provision is included because it would shut down the administration's competitive sourcing initiative.