Date: 2004-03-31
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I think the gentleman is aware that the Federal Employee Pay Comparability Act calls on the Federal Salary Council every year to make recommendations in terms of what the Federal employees would make. We could put a chart up here that would show that every year we have failed to come close to what the Federal Salary Council has recommended under the existing law of the land which is FEPCA. the Federal Employee Pay Comparability Act. This year. they have recommended a 25.73 locality rate for 2005. Congress has a long history on this issue. This resolution merely reiterates the sense of the House. Annual pay adjustments for civil employees and military members provided through the appropriations process have been identical in nearly every year over the last two decades. In addition. language to this end was included in the budget resolution for fiscal years 2002. 2003 and In 1999. the last time the Senate held a freestanding vote on this issue. the Senate voted 946 in favor of an amendment expressing the same sense of Congress that we do here today. I used to work for a billiondollar company out in Fairfax. Virginia. Our greatest asset was not our building. It was not our computers. It was not the land. It was our employees. They walked out the door every night. and we did what we had to to make sure they came back the next day. In an information age. people are the number one asset of any organization. The same is true with the Federal Government. We are in danger of losing in the procurement force over 60 percent of our qualified workers over the next 5 years. These are people that can walk across the street to the private sector and make. more money than they are making for the Federal Government and leave with their full retirement. These kind of minor incentives in a 3.5 percent pay raise that I do not think anybody except maybe the gentleman opposing this resolution would call a gargantuan pay raise or a huge pay raise. this is in line with what we are seeing in many cases in the private sector and in State and local governments and in my own counties that I represent in Congress. We have to be able to recruit and retain the best and the brightest to fulfill the policies that this Congress passes and sends on. To do that. pay comparability is important. and we continue to lag significantly in that respect. The Federal Government may never be able to compete with the private sector dollar for dollar. but we have to ensure that we do not fall further behind in the war for talent. While wages are not the only factor in our recruitment and retention efforts. what employer can hope to succeed in a labor market where it is offering salaries so far below the average? This is not a costofliving allowance as some have argued. saying it is too generous. The purpose is to assist the Federal Government in providing salaries comparable to those in the private sector. This is achieved through annual pay adjustments based on the change in private sector wages and salaries. not the cost of living. That is the fundamental precept behind the Federal Pay Comparability Act. This is achieved through our annual pay adjustments. The fact remains that Federal pay is not competitive. It is also important to note that providing a higher annual adjustment would not result in any budgetary increase. As they have over the last two decades. agencies pay for all their salaries. including these annual adjustments. with discretionary funds from their salaries and expense accounts. This does not score under CBO. I think we can all agree that both armed services and the Federal civilian workforce are integral to fulfilling the role of government in America and both must be compensated accordingly. In the coming fiscal year. parity and pay adjustments remain the vehicle to help achieve comparability between the public and the private sectors on the issue of pay so that the government can continue to perform. This resolution is integral to this effort. I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.