GovernmentExecutive.com

letters@govexec.com

Federal civilian employees and military personnel should get the same pay raises next year, a resolution approved Thursday by the House Appropriations Committee said.

The committee approved an amendment, sponsored by Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Frank Wolf, R-Va., that calls for parity between civilian and military pay. The amendment was attached to an emergency spending bill.

"It is the sense of the Congress that there should continue to be parity between the adjustments in the compensation of members of the uniformed services and the adjustments in the compensation of civilian employees of the United States," the amendment said.

The $12.9 billion spending bill would primarily provide emergency funding for continuing military operations in Yugoslavia.

Under the House-approved fiscal 2000 budget resolution, federal workers would get a 4.4 percent pay raise, the same raise President Clinton endorsed in his fiscal 2000 budget proposal.

But in February, the Senate approved a 4.8 percent pay raise for military personnel in S. 4, a bill that would also boost military retirement benefits. The Senate included a resolution in that bill calling for pay parity for civilian and military personnel.