Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-12-12
Byrd Plan Peri|s
Flat 2096 Boost
|nFedera|Pay
Amendment Calls
For Graduated Scale;
Vote Due Tomorrow
BY JOSEPH YOUNG.

Final Senate action on the Fed
eral pay bill is expected tomorrow
amid indications that the measure
will be altered to provide a grad
uated wage boost, with employees in
the lower income brackets receiving
the greater percentage of the raise.
Although it appeared almost GER
tain that Government employees will
receive a pay boost, the chances
were diminishing for a straight 20
per cent wage increase as provided
for in the Downey bill.
An amendment calling for grad
uated pay scale-the same method
that was used in the Federal wage
bill passed last June-will be intro
duced tomorrow by Senator Byrd,
Democrat, of Virginia.
Undecided on Percentage.
Senator Byrd today was still
working on the amendment and
said he had not yet decided just
what the percentage raise would be.
The Virginian said, however, that
lower income employees would re-
ceive the greatest percentage of the
raise. He would not say whether
the overall percentage raise would
be equal to the 159 increase granted
Federal workers last June
However, it was learned that the
amendment will provide for approx
imately II per cent wage increases
for employees in the lower brackets
and about per cent in the top
flight jobs.
During the current Senate debate
on the measure Senator Byrd has
contended that the provisions of the
Downey bill are excessive.
Minority Members to Meet.
Senator Byrd planned to meet
today with minority members of
the Senate Civil Service Committee
to confer on final details of the
graded scale of pay boosts they will
offer as an amendment to the
Downey bill.
Senator Hickenlooper, Republic
can, of Iowa, who joined with Sem
ator Byrd last June in drawing
up the graded increase method un-
der current law, said .ay he would
favor giving the bo,.Cln grades IL
or Is per cent over present sal
aries, with progressively smaller
percentage for each higher grade
up through the 10 classihcations
now under study. Such a progress
sively graded plan would avoid
many inequities, he pointed out.
! 1T Isn't Fair" Byrd Says.
In announcing his opposition to
the 20 per cent fiat increase pro-
vision of the Downey bill. Senator
Byrd declared: 1T isn't fair to the
, little fellow"
Citing an example, Senator Byrd
i said that under the bills provisions
j s1,50o-a-year clerk would get a
$500 annual increase, compared to
a S2,000-a-year boost for some top
fight Government official
"It's the low-paid Government
worker who needs the raise the
most" Senator Byrd declared.
Eventual Senate passage of some
pay legislation was virtually assured
late yesterday when Senator Down.
ey, chairman of the Senate Civil
Service Committee, withdrew his
amendment to increase salaries of
members of Congress by $1,000
| year.
Compromise Move.
Senator Downey's action was a
compromise move, since majority
J of Senators informed him they
would not vote for the bill unless
IropYnI
The Californian was told by his
colleagues that the wage controver-
sy between labor and industry made
it politically unwise for the Senate
to take a stand at this time on the
question of voting themselves wage
increases.
For the same reason, it is expected
that the Senate will vote for some
sort of graduated wage increase
Many Senators feel that passage OF
fiat 20 per cent salary boost will
be interpreted as national recon-
, version wage pattern.
In a further effort to allay Sem
ate opposition to the bill, Senator
DoWney introduced an amendment
W plCNCllu ally Wd6S illAl easy W
boost the salary of any Federal
worker over $4,000. This was done
i to meet the objection of some Sen
) ators who baked at the idea of
having some Government officials
receive greater salary than they do.
Other Clauses Held Back.
.. Senator Downey also said he would
!, not introduce other amendments
4 that he had intended to add to the
measure. These included 5000 a
year wage increases for top-fight
Government officials and Federal
judges, $4,000 a year expense funds
for members of Congress and $4,000
a year special assistants for each
member of the House and Senate.
e The delay in considering the bill
: until tomorrow resulted from Sena
: tor Byrd's request for more time in
= drafting his amendment
:, Debate on the measure yesterday
afternoon resulted in heated ex-
changes between Senator Byrd and
Senator Downey.
The Virginian charged that Sem
> ator Downey summarily cut off re-
cent hearings by the Senate Civil
Service Committee on the bill. In
reply, Senator Downey said that on
several occasions he had arranged
for additional top-f1ight Govern.
ment witnesses to appear, but each
time Senator Byrd informed him
that he could not attend the meet.
e ings.
: Calls Byrd Query "Innocuous."
S when Senator Byrd did attend
= the hearings he never once asked a
It relevant question of the witnesses
d except to ask Mr.. Anderson (Sec-
T. rotary of Agriculture Anderson ar
innocuous query" Senator Downey
e charged.
: His face flushed, Senator Byro
e jumped to his feet and retorted that
D he was able to attend but two meet.
:, ings and didn't have the opportu.
: nifty to question all the witnesses.
IS Senator Dowfey then asserted
: that his colleague on the commit
4 too 1,o5 JAcsro< that fho rxro,,v> c,l