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I wasn't going to say anything since I figured people could read the article and pull out the following but it seems to keep getting missed:

"Call said the locality-based payments have rarely gone into effect since their creation in 1990, either because former President Clinton limited them or Congress prescribed other salary increases.

"The whole locality-based adjustment ... for the most part doesn't go into effect," Call said.

"The White House estimated that the overall average locality-based pay increase would amount to about 18.6 percent. Bush said granting the full raises would cost about $13.6 billion in 2003, or $11.2 billion more than he proposed for the year - a cost the nation can't bear as it continues to battle the war against terror."

NOTE: These pay raises are for General Schedule employees and are rarely implemented. The standard raise for years has been around 3%. The locality raises would break the bank and are not necessary. A GS-12, Step 10 now makes $70,000+ a year. That is not considered a high grade by anyone's account in the GS ranks!

Federal Govt salaries have skyrocketed. My guess is 10s of thousands make six figures. Just 15 years ago, people worked for the govt so they could get experience to move to the private sector and make more money. Not anymore, people now hook up with the private sector to gain experience in hopes of getting a cushy govt job down the road. The Government claims that they need to offer competitive wages and overboard retirement plans to attract the best and brightest. No, the best and brightest need to be in the private sector.

$70K sounds like a lot of money, and it would be a lot of money in most parts of the country, but it's not a lot of money in the DC metro area.

When my husband first started working at the Patent Office in 1988, he was making $27K, with a Master's degree in engineering and almost ten year's experience. We lived two hours away from his work and paid $1000 per month for our house. He was commuting four hours a day, and I was baking bread because it was cheaper than buying it.

When all the federal jobs were shut down during the Clinton Administration, he still was called in to work because the Patent Office actually makes money for the government, much more than it costs.

Fourteen years later, the pay is better, but we know a lot of people who live two or more hours away because they don't have the additional education required to get the better jobs.

The only way people with low income jobs, e.g., cleaning people, maintenance people, can afford to live here is to live with several families in the same house, like they were still living in the Third World.

I know it's fashionable to hate the federal government, but who is going to protect you from Al Qaeda? Bill Gates? Jeff Bezos? Ted Turner?

I retired as a GS-12, step 10, and I can tell you I worked mighty hard to reach that grade (retired in '91); further, I earned my pay many times over, with tangible savings to the Govt in many instances. It is easier now to reach a GS-12, but some of us had to produce to get it. Might add I stayed with it because of the security it provided, with my civilian counterparts making far in excess of my salary.

Uhhhhh...do you think that giving BIG raises to these folks might not play well in the hinterlands given that the recession has either eliminated pay altogether, reduced pay for many, or eliminated any kind of bonus?

Methinks Bush has the ears to the ground quite effectively.

Howdy, and thanks for the comment.

"The White House estimated that the overall average locality-based pay increase would amount to about 18.6 percent. Bush said granting the full raises would cost about $13.6 billion in 2003, or $11.2 billion more than he proposed for the year - a cost the nation can't bear as it continues to battle the war against terror.".....

Etc....

So, are they NOT getting a raise or are they getting a SMALLER increase than anticipated? The way the article is written is confusing to me. Note, from this article:

"A national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001," Bush wrote. "Such cost increases would threaten our efforts against terrorism or force deep cuts in discretionary spending or federal employment to stay within budget. Neither outcome is acceptable."
The president noted that the raises still amount to more than the current inflation rate of 2.1 percent.

Here in Japan a GS-12 Step 10 gets $69944. It takes 18 years to get to "Step 10" once you make GS-12 (If you start at Step 1). I don't mind getting 3.1% instead of 4.1%, with Dubyaa in charge. The article said he cut the raise!! How do you "cut" something you don't have yet?? The main reason we didn't get the 4.1% was because the Democratic controlled Senate held up the parade this fall, the bills were never passed on time. Here in Japan we don't get locality pay. When CLINTON was divving up that every year, overseas employees got screwed. DC went from 4% locality pay...now it's something like 11%. That means an employee in DC gets 11% more than an employee stationed overseas. The overseas Post Aloowance makes up some of the difference....but why do we start off 11% behind from the get go?? Hopefully Senator CORZINE will donate his Senate raise to the Navy/Marine Corps Relief Society!!