Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-11-12
Federal Pay

This letter concerns the
pending $4,000 per year pay
raise for members Of Con-
greSs, the 10 to 22.5 per cent
pay increas sc for GS-16
through GS-18 positions and
the pay raise for cabinet
members and other high Of
ficials Of the Government. It
seems that the purpose of
this bill is to raise the pay Of
Congress $4,000 per year
and to throw in a 6 per cent
raise Of lower grade classified
employees and an even larger
increase for lower grade pos
tai employees for public sup
port purposes.
What makes this bill such
a farce is the publicity given
to compatibility" as the
need for a pay raise, when in
effect, the 1T per cent raise
given to a GS-11 engineer
will not pay for the increased
cost of living that will go
into effect in this area If the
pay raise bill in its present
form should be made law.
I recommend rejection Of
the bill entirely as an insult
to the intelligence Of the up
per middle-grade m anage-
ment level where all the pub
licity was focused as the
greatest need to achieve
compatibility. The bill would
restrict initiative in govern
ment, making it less attrac-
tive to work twice as hard to
get promoted to a position
paying only a few hundred
dollars a year more.
Pay raises should be given
on a sliding scale basis with
a 6 per cent raise for the
first 8 grades and with a. per-
centage increase correspond
ing to the grade scale for
each grade thereafter, along
with the pay raises already
proposed for members Of
Congress and other top Gov
eminent officials.
Bradley Osman.
IS -
What has Congress done to
deserve such as whopping in
crease in pay? Most Of them
never had it so good" and
wouldn't quit If their salaries
we're reduced, which Is more
like it.
Most members Of Congress
are small-town lawyers whose
income probably ranged from
$500 $1,000, if they were
lucky, and they couldn't be
pried out of Washington.
I have visited sessions Of
the House and Senate, and
have been so ashamed of the
mediocrity displayed, the
ponderous exhibitions of
sophomorhc minds, that I
wished they would all go
quietly back where they came
from.
There are exceptions. true,
but they are in the minority.
We might take a page
from England's history.
Members, Of Parliament re-
ceive tiny stipends by COM
parison, and when the "peo-
pie" don't like what Is hap
pening, they are sent home.
and another election is held.
1t hasn't been too long
since Congress fumed and
haggled over proposed pay
raises for the armed forces,
grudgingly passing a raise
which they finally admitted
wasn't really what it should
have been.
Post Office employees get a
raise every week, or so it
seems. Federal employees have
a raise coming in January, so
why the rush, now?
All the talk about balanc-
ing the budget, raising the
debt ceiling, and at the same
time giving Federal employees
whopping increases seems in
consistent, to say the least.
Maybe if members Of Con-
gresS wete required to keep a
time sheet" showing the &C
tual days spent on the job.
taxpayers would have an
even clearer picture Of the
absenteeism that goes on.
Marie Harper.
4 + \
The unwarranted and po-
litically motivated surgery
done on President Kennedy'S
proposed pay bill by the
House committee is a most
fragrant affront to the civil
service scientific community.
One of the Presidents goals
in proposing his bill was to
attract and hold competent
personnel in the scientific and
engineering fields. The bill,
as it now stands, gives only
meager raises to grades eight