Congress Agrees to Extend Pay Freeze for Third Year
By Kellie Lunney
March 21, 2013 - GovExec.com
Congress on Thursday agreed on a measure to keep the government running
through the end of the fiscal year. The bill, which also extends the pay freeze
on federal employees, now heads to President Obama.
The House put its stamp of approval on the $984 billion spending package
that the Senate
passed on Wednesday. The legislation maintains the sequester, avoids a
government shutdown, and also breaks out specific funding for the appropriations
bills dealing with Agriculture; Commerce; Justice and Science; Defense; Homeland
Security; and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.
gEven if a continuing resolution is not the most preferable way to fund the
government, I believe this bill is the best we can do under these tricky
circumstances,h said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky.,
during floor remarks on Thursday. The current continuing resolution keeping the
government open expires on March 27.
Both the House and Senate have included provisions that extend the current
pay freeze for federal employees and lawmakers through the end of 2013. Senate
Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who worked closely
with Ranking Member Richard Shelby, R-Ala., on crafting the Senate bill, said
she did not want to include the freeze for feds but that it was necessary to
prevent a government shutdown. She likened the CR to the last helicopter leaving
a disaster area. gThe helicopter couldnft take off if this modest pay raise was
on it. I think this is a terrible mistake,h she said. gI hope that in next
yearfs regular order, we can make this up. But I want to say to my federal
employees, this was a draconian choice.h Maryland is home to 130,000 federal
employees.
Obama issued an executive order in late 2012 that would end the two-year
salary freeze on March 27 and give civilian federal workers a 0.5 percent raise
in 2013. This legislation overturns that executive order. Obama is expected to
sign the bill.
The Senate tacked on some
amendments aimed at easing the pain of sequestration in some specific areas,
including one offered by Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark., to
shift existing agriculture funds to the Food Safety and Inspection Service so
that no inspectors are furloughed because of sequestration. Another amendment
restores tuition reimbursement benefits to military service people, a program
that was trimmed under sequestration.
Democrats were unhappy that the continuing resolution maintained
sequestration. gI remain deeply dissatisfied that sequestration is not addressed
and will slash the very priorities I believe all of us came here to fulfill,h
said House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. But Lowey,
noting the impending March 27 deadline, said she was satisfied that Mikulski
ggot the best deal that she could at this timeh to avoid a government
shutdown.
By Kellie Lunney
March 21, 2013
http://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2013/03/congress-agrees-extend-pay-freeze-third-year/62002/