GovernmentExecutive.com

President Bush proposed a 2.2 percent raise next year for both civilian federal employees and military service members in his fiscal 2007 budget, released Monday morning.

In a break from the past several years, the proposal heeds a recent call by some members of Congress for pay parity between the civilian and military sectors. Until now, the Bush White House has consistently sought higher raises for the military, but Congress has rejected its proposals by granting equal military and civilian pay raises.

Last year, for example, President Bush requested a 2.3 percent average salary adjustment for white-collar civilian employees and a 3.1 percent increase for the armed forces. Congress, however, approved a 3.1 percent raise for both groups.

In the fiscal 2005 budget, the White House proposed a 1.5 percent raise for civilians and a 3.5 percent raise for service members. Congress enacted a 3.5 percent raise for all employees.

The call for pay parity this year came in a January letter to the President.

"We cannot express strongly enough the importance of continuing the tradition of pay parity between military and civilian employees in the coming fiscal year," the letter stated. "We believe anything less than an equal pay adjustment in 2007 sends the regrettable message that the services civilians provide to America every day are not highly valued."

The letter was signed by Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; Tom Davis, R-Va; Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.; James Moran, D-Va.; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Frank Wolf, R-Va.; Albert Wynn, D-Md and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.

The 2.2 percent raise is equal to the change in the Labor Department's Employment Cost Index. Traditionally, the president has proposed a military pay raise greater than the ECI and a civilian pay raise that is lower.

While proponents of pay parity seem to have prevailed, the proposed raise for both military service members and civilian federal employees is markedly lower than Congress has enacted the past several years. Federal pay raises have averaged more than 3 percent since 1999.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, stressed that in the end, it is up to Congress to determine the federal pay raise.

"Our nation's civilian federal workforce stands shoulder to shoulder with those in uniform, which is why I am pleased to see the President acknowledge pay parity between federal employees and the military," Akaka said. "Although the President proposes a 2.2 percent pay increase, it is up to Congress to determine whether this amount is sufficient."

National Treasury Employees Union president Colleen Kelley said she is pleased with the president's proposal for pay parity between military and civilian employees, but said a 2.2 percent raise is too low to recruit and keep superior employees.

"In this technological age, and with security such a vital concern, it is critical that the federal government use all the tools at its disposal to attract and retain the high-quality employees the public wants and expects it to have," Kelley said. "Fair and competitive pay clearly is a major component in that competition."

Gregory Junemann, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, also said the proposal was too low, and that his union would lobby Congress to increase the figure.

"These numbers are reflective of a clear lack of appreciation for the very people working day in and day out in support of taxpaying Americans," Junemann said. "As we have done in the past, IFPTE will work with our friends in Congress to correct this grave inequity."