FederalDaily - July 24, 2006
GAO: Adjusted for Inflation, Judges’
Pay Fell
Some pay increases may not be what they seem, according to a
Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on executive and
judicial pay trends. Calculated using the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) “price deflator” to adjust for inflation, GAO
found that pay rates for federal justices and judges and those
under the EX pay plan decreased between 1970 and 2006—while
pay rates for Senior Executive Service (SES), Senior Level/Scientific
or Professional (SL/ST), and Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) positions
went up. For example, in 2006 dollars, cabinet secretaries in
1970 were paid $250,204, compared to $183,500 in 2006—a
drop in value by about 27 percent over the period, the report
said. On the other hand, in 2006 dollars, ALJs in 1970 were paid
$148,058, compared to $152,000 in 2006—a 3 percent increase,
according to GAO. But GAO said that when adjusted for inflation
using the Consumer Price Index, pay rates in 2006 dollars for
all of these pay plans decreased. For cabinet secretaries and
ALJs, for example, pay values fell by 41 percent and 17 percent,
respectively. GAO noted other factors – such as bonuses,
insurance and retirement benefits – also affect total compensation
differently among these plans, and recommended closer examination
to ensure equitable treatment across plans. To see the full report,
go to: www.gao.gov/new.items/d06708.pdf.
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Spending Bill Includes 12 Percent Increase
for VA Medical Services
The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs spending bill
for 2007 approved July 20 by the Senate Appropriations Committee
includes $77.9 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The bill provides $28.7 billion for VA medical services—$3
billion, or 12 percent, more than last fiscal year. The bill also
includes $3.6 billion for VA medical facilities, which is $271
million more than last fiscal year, and about $13 million more
than the administration asked for. The bill also calls for $412
million for medical and prosthetic research, equal to last year’s
amount and $13 million more than the White House requested. The
bill specifies that at least $15 million of that research funding
be used to study Gulf War Illness.
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House Members Call for Hold on Private
Collection Plan
More than two dozen members of Congress lent their names to a
letter to the commissioner of the IRS to express their concern
over the agency’s plan to contract some tax collection responsibilities
to private firms. In a letter dated July 19, a bipartisan group
of 27 House members told IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said they
“were disappointed to learn that the IRS …is beginning
the process of hiring three private firms to pursue as many as
40,000 Americans who owe back taxes”—in spite of a
House Transportation-Treasury 2007 appropriations bill provision
that forbids the use of IRS funds to enter into tax collection
contracts with private companies. The members asked Everson to
hold off on implementation of the plan until work on the bill,
which passed in the House in June, is completed.
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