Election Fear Derails Raises

EXECUTIVE MEMO

Election Fear Derails Raises

ear of fallout from an election year pay raise led the House to deny itself a cost-of-living adjustment July 16. If the Senate follows suit, the cap on senior executive salaries could be frozen for 1997. Senior executives can't make more than the salary at Level IV of the Executive Schedule. The Executive Schedule is the pay scale for senior appointees and Cabinet secretaries. Level IV would be frozen at $115,700. SES raises are set by executive order in January each year, but the top SES salaries can't best ES Level IV.

The House Appropriations treasury, postal and general government subcommittee urged the president to give senior executives the same raise other employees receive in 1997.

By remaining silent on General Schedule pay raises, the House accepted a Clinton Administration plan for a 3 percent hike in January, probably split between a nationwide raise of 2.3 percent plus locality raises. Senate appropriators voted to send their version of the appropriation to the full Senate July 23. The Senate committee also was mum on the raise, effectively supporting the Administration plan. Once the Senate approves its version, a House-Senate conference will craft a compromise bill.