House approves 4.1 civilian pay raise for 2004

The House passed an appropriations bill Tuesday night that includes a 4.1 percent pay raise in 2004 for civilian and wage grade federal employees, spurning a Bush administration proposal to hold the federal, white-collar pay raise at 2 percent next year.

"Unlike President Bush, the Congress understands and respects the valuable role our federal civilian employees play in providing for this country's defense," said Rep. James Moran, D-Va., who sponsored an amendment to the 2004 Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill (H.R. 2989) along with House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. Under the bill, civil service and wage grade employees would get the same raise as uniformed military service members are slated to get in 2004.

"Federal workers go to work every day to make this country safer and better for all our citizens. We shouldn't shovel the cost of a war and expensive tax cuts onto their shoulders," Hoyer said after the bill's passage.

Two weeks ago, the Bush administration announced its plans to hold white-collar civil service raises at 2 percent next year and allow managers to use money in a $500 million fund to give some employees larger raises based on their performance. House leaders approved an amendment, offered by House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., creating the fund in the fiscal 2004 Defense authorization bill. But House leaders, including Davis, railed against the smaller pay raise and on Tuesday, the full chamber supported the larger pay raise.

Union leaders applauded the House action.

"It certainly is refreshing to see that despite annual White House efforts to shortchange our nation's civil servants, Congress has again stepped up to the plate in recognizing that pay parity between federal and military workers is not a practice that the administration can simply ignore," said International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers President Greg Junemann.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and General Government approved similar legislation on Sept. 3. That bill is headed to the full committee.