Bush Asks 3.6% Pay Hike for U.S. Workers

President Bush today shelved a proposed 28.62% raise for white-collar civilian government workers and asked Congress to approve a 3.6% pay increase, effective next Jan. 1.

In a letter to Congress, the President noted that he is required to make a decision each year on what pay adjustments should be made for federal employees.

He noted that an increase averaging 28.62%, to be effective Oct. 1, 1989, would be required under existing procedures to raise federal pay to rates comparable with the private sector.

But he said that the law also empowers him to propose an alternate pay raise plan appropriate to “national emergency or economic conditions affecting the general welfare.”

Bush said the proposed 28.62% hike would have an adverse budgetary effect and he could not permit “an increase of that magnitude.” It would have cost $35 billion in fiscal 1990, his advisers said.

On the other hand, he said the federal government’s ability to attract and retain qualified employees requires a pay raise greater than the 2% allotted in the 1990 fiscal year budget.

As a result of budget deliberations, a general consensus was reached with Congress to seek an “appropriate pay raise for federal civilians in fiscal year 1990 of 3.6%,” Bush said.

The proposed pay increase would cost $2.1 billion and “is fully absorbed in the appropriations” bills for 1990, he said.

Congress also recommended a 10% pay raise for the 1991 fiscal year, but Bush said that it could not be accommodated because of budget constraints.