Will federal workers see a pay raise next year?
Published: June 7, 2012
WASHINGTON — Members of the House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee approved a budget plan Wednesday that extends the federal pay freeze for another year. It’s at least the third time in the last month that the committee has denied a pay increase for government employees in 2013, despite White House requests for a modest 0.5 percent boost.
Military personnel are expected to see only a 1.7 percent pay increase next year, their third consecutive year of pay increases under 2.0 percent. But their civilian counterparts in the Defense Department haven’t seen any increases since President Barack Obama announced a government-wide pay freeze in November 2010.
The 0.5 percent pay increase would cost about $800 million next year, a price tag that White House officials have argued is worth supporting to retain skilled and experienced workers who have sacrificed for the last two years.
But House Republicans have opposed the idea, and in February voted on a stand-alone budget bill providing no pay increase next year. (The measure also included another freeze on lawmakers’ paychecks for 2013.)
Senate leaders have already backed the idea of the 1.7 percent military raise, but haven’t adopted any budget bills covering federal workers pay. The issue isn’t expected to be resolved until after the November elections.
