Two Percent Pay Raise Appears More Likely as Congress Advances Bills
As Congress steams toward summer break, both chambers have been busy on appropriations and Defense authorization legislation.
And despite all the back and forth, it appears that federal civilian employees are on track for a two percent (2%) pay raise next year.
The House Appropriations Committee advanced legislation that includes the two percent pay bump, as recommended by President Biden in his budget proposal. House Republicans were silent on pay, indicating support for the two percent number.
That means federal employees are likely headed for a much smaller raise in 2025. They received an average 5.2 percent increase in 2024 (the highest since 1980) and a 4.6 increase in 2023.
The two percent number rankled Democrats and federal labor groups who once again pressed for passage of the FAIR Act, which would increase federal civilian pay by an average of 7.4 percent.
“Such an investment in the federal workforce would help close the significant pay gap between federal employee and private sector pay and help the federal government compete with the private sector for talented employees,” wrote the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) in a blog post.
Still, the pay number is far from final. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet unveiled its legislative proposal. And the pay raise is not final anyway until President Biden signs an executive order to enact it.
NDAA Passes House, Senate Fight Looms
Meanwhile, the full House passed the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a vote of 217-199, with just six Democrats backing the measure.
The NDAA includes a 4.5 percent raise of military members and a two percent raise for civilian DOD employees. Notably, it abandons the longtime concept of pay raise parity between the military and civilian workforces.
But it was other riders in the legislation, including amendments to pause Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) hires and reimburse servicemembers who travel out of state for an abortion, that had Democrats lining up against the plan.
Its fate is uncertain the Democratic-controlled Senate. The Senate recently came up its own version of the bill, taking a more bipartisan approach.
The NDAA typically passes with overwhelming bipartisan support.
