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The House of Representatives voted last Thursday to set aside $1.8 billion toward military pay and retirement benefit increases next year. The lawmakers also called for equal pay raises for federal civilian and military personnel.

As part of a $13 billion 1999 emergency spending bill to support military operations in Yugoslavia, the House said $1.8 billion must be held until next year for increases in basic military pay, for targeted pay raises for certain ranks, and for better retirement benefits.

The set-aside "will send a positive signal to our service men and women, not only those engaged in Operation Allied Force but in difficult missions around the world, that Congress is committed to providing an increase in military compensation and reforming the military pay and retirement system, and as a sign of that commitment, is providing funding to support these objectives in this bill," the House said in a report accompanying the bill, H.R. 1664.

However, the money won't be available to the Defense Department until Congress passes fiscal 2000 authorization bills. The Senate has already passed a bill, S. 4, to beef up military pay and benefits, but the House has not yet approved a similar package. Negotiators must also reconcile differences between the Senate bill and the Clinton administration's proposals for improving military pay and benefits.

The House also approved a resolution as part of the emergency bill that says civilian employees and military personnel should get the same raises next year.

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. The Senate included a resolution in that bill calling for pay parity for civilian and military personnel.