Lawmakers press Bush for military-civilian pay parity

Eight lawmakers sent a letter to President Bush Tuesday urging him to incorporate pay parity between civilian and military employees in his 2007 budget proposal.

In doing so, the Washington-area representatives started their yearly battle over the federal civilian pay raise.

"We cannot express strongly enough the importance of continuing the tradition of pay parity between military and civilian employees in the coming fiscal year," the letter stated. "We believe anything less than an equal pay adjustment in 2007 sends the regrettable message that the services civilians provide to America every day are not highly valued."

The letter also argued that the pay raise is a recruitment tool that is important, given the "human capital crisis" slated to accompany a predicted retirement wave.

The letter was signed by Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; Tom Davis, R-Va; Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.; James Moran, D-Va.; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Frank Wolf, R-Va.; Albert Wynn, D-Md and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.

Hoyer said in a statement that pay parity is necessary for federal salaries to keep pace with the private sector.

"Pay parity is one way to prevent the gap from widening and recognizes the essential contributions of both the federal civilian workforce and our military," Hoyer said.

National Treasury Employees Union president Colleen Kelley applauded the letter and said Congress increasingly is heeding the call for pay parity.

"The private sector wants quality people, and it is willing to go after them," Kelley said. "Competitive pay by federal agencies is an imperative."

Each year of his tenure, Bush has proposed a lower pay raise for civilian workers than he has for their military counterparts, and Congress has ignored the recommendation and given both groups the same raise. For 2006, Bush recommended a 2.3 percent civilian raise and a 3.1 percent military raise. Congress passed a 3.1 percent raise for both.

The formula to calculate the military pay raise over past several years has been set equal to the Employment Cost Index, as calculated by the Labor Department, plus 0.5 percent. This year, however, because of a provision in the 2004 National Defense Authorization Act, it will be set at ECI alone, without the additional 0.5 percent. That would amount to 2.2 percent.

Congress has the authority to override that formula and grant any pay raise it deems appropriate.

The civilian pay raise formula would set the pay raise at ECI minus 0.5 percent, or 1.7 percent. But Bush, in proposing a 2.3 percent raise last year, went above that formula, which would have called for a 2.1 percent civilian raise.

The president is set to issue his 2007 budget on Feb. 6.