FederalDaily - February 7, 2006

Bush Proposes 2.2 Percent Raise in 2007

President Bush on Monday released his proposed budget for 2007, which included a raise of 2.2 percent for both military members and federal civilian workers. In the past he has recommended higher raises for servicemembers than civilians, but Congress has overruled such recommendations. National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen Kelley said she appreciated “the administration’s long-overdue recognition of the…importance of parity in civilian and military pay increases.” However, Kelley also complained that a 2.2 percent increase would be the smallest federal pay raise since 1988, and said it “would fail even to keep pace with inflation and private sector pay.” For more on this, see Mike Causey’s column in the upcoming Feb. 13, 2006, issue of Federal Employees News Digest. To subscribe, click here.

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DoD Announces Plans for Future

The Department of Defense (DoD) released its Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) on Friday—charting the department’s path for the next 20 years. The review points DoD in the direction of focusing on joint capabilities rather than individual programs. It emphasizes lighter, more deployable forces to handle nontraditional threats, while stating that DoD will also still work on conventional threats, humanitarian efforts and protecting national allies. It also promotes more special operations, intelligence gathering, language and cultural capabilities, improved communications and enhanced security-cooperation activities. The QDR plays a significant role in allocation of resources for the 2007 DoD budget. The full report is available at www.defenselink.mil/qdr/report/Report20060203.pdf.

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Teleworking Would Save Billions

By allowing federal employees and white-collar workers to telework two days per week the government would conserve 11.67 billion gallons of gasoline annually, the Telework Exchange said in a study published last month. The study, titled “A Barrel Saved is a Barrel Earned,” noted that federal employees as a whole use 31.1 million gallons of gasoline each week. Teleworking two days each week would conserve 12.4 million gallons per week, or approximately 647 million gallons annually. Telework Exchange Executive Director Stephen O’Keefe said, “The ‘other’ fuel for our economy, telework, is a largely untapped resource. It requires no new research and development.” The study was based on survey results taken from 3,500 federal employees registered to the Telework Exchange Web site. To download the full report, go to www.teleworkexchange.com.

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TSP Monthly Returns

Rates of Return were updated on February 1, 2006.

The monthly G, F, C, S, and I Fund returns represent the actual total rates of return used in the monthly allocation of earnings to participant accounts. The returns are shown after deduction of accrued TSP administrative expenses. The F, C, S, and I Fund returns also reflect the deduction of trading costs and accrued investment management fees. The most current G, F, C, S, and I Fund rates of return are shown above. Returns are updated after the monthly allocation of earnings, usually by the fourth business day of the month.

For more on TSP, click here.

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