House passes 2 percent pay raise

The House passed legislation that includes a 2 percent pay raise for federal employees late on Thursday evening.

The raise, included in the fiscal 2010 financial services appropriations bill, is only one of a number of competing pay raise proposals advancing in House and Senate appropriations bills. The Senate Appropriations Committee backed a 2.9 percent raise for civilian employees in 2010 in its version of the financial services appropriations bill on July 8. The House and Senate Armed Services Committees have included a 3.4 percent raise for members of the armed services in their versions of the fiscal 2010 Defense authorization act.

Both the House and Senate budget resolutions included resolutions supporting the principle of parity in pay increases for civil servants and members of the military. President Obama proposed a 2 percent raise for civilians and a 2.9 percent boost for service members in February.

Darryl Perkinson, president of the Federal Managers Association, said he was hopeful that the Senate's proposed raise would prevail in negotiations between the two chambers.

"Given the state of the economy and unemployment levels in the private sector, we are grateful Congress is considering a pay raise for federal employees this year," Perkinson said. But he said he was disappointed that the House was moving away from the precedent of preserving pay parity.

Other leaders of federal employee groups have echoed Perkinson's comments in recent weeks. Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said last week that she thought it was unlikely that Congress would pass equivalent raises for civilians and service members this year.