Action in Congress

摘要

The military is assured of getting a 3.1 percent pay raise in January, even if the Senate fails to pass a 2006 authorization bill, as seemed likely. Authority for the pay raise actually cleared Congress in late 1999, when lawmakers approved the Fiscal 2000 defense authorization act. That law directed that annual military raises from 2001 through 2006 be set one-half percentage point above private sector wage growth, as measured by the government's Employment Cost Index (ECI). ECI data for shaping the 2006 pay raise show private sector wages rose 2.6 percent. With the statutory formula entitling the military to another half percent, the actual January raise would be 3.1 percent. The Senate in recent years hasn't even included a military pay raise in its authorization bill, recognizing that the 1999 statute will provide one. The House passed its defense authorization bill last June, with a specific provision for a 3.1 percent military pay raise.