Bush declines to offer alternative pay raise plan

President Bush let an Aug. 31 deadline pass without submitting an alternative across-the-board 2007 pay raise for white-collar federal employees, providing a de facto endorsement for a 1.7 percent raise.

A formula in the 1990 Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act sets the across-the-board increase at 0.5 percentage points less than the annual change in the Employment Cost Index at the end of the preceding September. This year, that number amounts to 1.7 percent. It does not include additional locality pay, which is determined using a different formula.

The president proposed a 2.2 percent pay hike in his fiscal 2007 budget, including locality pay, though he did not determine how much of that would go toward the local pay hikes. The president has until Nov. 30 to submit a plan for locality increases.

"The president's budget provides a pay raise for civilian employees that is designed to recruit, retain, reward and motivate a top federal government workforce," Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman Andrea Wuebker said. "The administration is not taking any action on an alternative pay plan at this time."

Bush's decision not to submit an alternative pay proposal to Congress means that the 1.7 percent increase would go into effect in January 2007, unless Congress votes to substitute a different raise, which it has already moved to do.

In July, the Senate appropriations committee voted for a 2.7 percent civilian pay hike as part of the fiscal 2007 Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill, which matches a mid-June vote by the full House.

In a June statement of administration policy, the White House admonished Congress for pushing the higher increase for federal employees, arguing it would cost an additional $600 million on top of the Bush proposal and that "any recruitment or retention challenges facing the federal government are limited to a few areas and occupations and are not addressed by arbitrary across-the-board increases."