Lawmakers from the upper and lower chambers of Congress have introduced identical bills that implement a 3.8-percent across-the-board pay increase for federal employees in 2016, GovExec reported Tuesday.Eric Katz writes that Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and several cosponsors introduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates Act in the House, while Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) submitted its counterpart in the Senate.
“Our federal workers deserved to be fairly compensated for the important work they do on behalf of Americans across the country,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), a cosponsor of the bill.
“Advancing the FAIR Act will help the government recruit and retain the top-quality workforce the American people need and deserve.”
Connolly has noted that the bills aim to address attrition in the federal workforce and adjust their compensation based on inflation and existing rates in the private sector.
Last year, Schatz and Cardin proposed a 3.3-percent increase in federal salaries for 2015 following a pay freeze from 2011 to 2013 and a 1-percent raise in 2014, but Katz reports that the bill stalled in Congress and another 1-percent raise was implemented for this year.
