Big pay raise for troops in defense bill sent to Biden. Conservatives stymied on cultural issues

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a defense policy bill Thursday that authorizes the biggest pay raise for troops in more than two decades, overcoming objections from some conservatives concerned the measure did not do enough to restrict the Pentagon’s diversity initiatives, abortion travel policy and gender-affirming health care for transgender service members. The $ 886 billion bill was approved by a vote of 310-118 and now goes to President Joe Biden after the Senate had overwhelmingly passed it Wednesday. It is likely the last piece of major legislation Congress…

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Democrats reintroduce bill to give feds 8.7% average pay raise next year

A bicameral pair of Democrats proposed a bill to give federal employees a pay raise in 2024, in what has become an annual tradition in recent years. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) reintroduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act in the House and Senate, respectively, to give most civilian employees an 8.7% average pay raise next year. Specifically, the bill includes a 4.7% across-the-board base pay raise, plus a 4% average locality pay increase. The legislation also includes a 4.7% raise for prevailing rate…

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Omnibus silently endorses 4.6% pay raise for federal employees in 2023

For federal employees, the most significant part of the $ 1.7 trillion omnibus spending package that Congress unveiled this week may not be contained in the text of the legislation itself, but rather found in what’s not said. The 4,155-page bill, which House and Senate lawmakers released in the early morning hours of Dec. 20, doesn’t make any reference to the 4.6% across-the-board federal pay raise, in effect silently endorsing the Biden administration’s proposal for 2023. The bill additionally supports a 4.6% pay raise for military members in 2023. But…

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What the House appropriations bill means for a federal pay raise

House appropriators have aligned with President Joe Biden’s proposed 4.6% federal pay raise. The fiscal 2023 financial services and general government bill, which the House Appropriations Committee advanced on June 24 in a vote of 31 to 22, makes no mention of the pay raise proposal for federal employees. Similar to their silence last year, House appropriators’ lack of comment on the federal pay raise essentially endorses the White House’s 4.6% proposal from March’s budget request. In 2022, federal employees received a pay raise of 2.7% on average. Military service…

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Lawmakers raise concerns about EEOC return to office plans

As some agencies start to reenter office spaces, lawmakers are raising concerns about return-to-office plans for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-Va.), ranking member on the Committee on Education and Labor, and James Comer (R-Ky.), ranking member on the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said the lag on reentry would delay the commission’s ability to efficiently review and resolve discrimination charges. “We are unaware of any plan for the commission to return the remainder of its workforce of approximately 2,000 employees to in-person service,” the authors said…

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