According to notes taken at a November meeting of the Budget Officers Advisory Council leaked several weeks ago, an officer of the Bush administration?s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has said that federal employees? raises in 2004 will be linked to inflation. A potential violation of federal salary laws, such a decision would mean that federal workers? raises---historically linked to the average increases in private sector pay---would fail to keep pace with private sector pay, and has raised much controversy. This news comes even as members of Congress seek to override attempts by President Bush to cut 2003 raises for federal employees below those of their military counterparts?a break with the long tradition of awarding equivalent raises to military and civilian federal employees (see WIT?s for Dec. 2, and June 27, 2002).
See "An Index for an Uproar: Talk of Tying Raises to Inflation Has Many Upset", STEPHEN BARR, The Washington Post, January 5, 2003