Senate Rejects Pay Freeze Extension

The majority of the Senate sided with federal workers on Tuesday in rejecting an amendment that would have extended the current two-year federal pay freeze for an additional year.

By a vote of 47 to 51, the Senate rejected an amendment to a highway funding bill introduced by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., that would have extended a pay freeze on federal cost-of-living raises for a third consecutive year. The vote came during a debate on legislation to provide funding for federal highway projects.

The House voted in February to approve a one-year extension of the federal pay freeze as part of a separate bill. President Obama proposed a 0.5 percent pay increase for federal workers in his fiscal 2013 budget proposal last month.

It's important to note that the current federal pay freeze and considerations for the extended pay freeze only impact across-the-board pay increases. Federal workers are still eligible for within-grade and step increases, bonuses and promotional pay increases.

"While federal employees continue to protect the safety and health of the American people, they should not be treated as scapegoats," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who voted against the amendment.

Federal information technology workers also would take a hit if the pay freeze were extended for an additional year. A survey released in January by Dice.com found that salaries for government IT workers were slightly below the national average, meaning the government could have a difficult time recruiting and retaining highly-skilled IT workers if the pay freeze extension was approved.