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White House Budget Proposes 2.7 Percent Raise, OPM IT Modernization

Federal employees could receive a 2.7 percent average pay increase for calendar year 2022, if the proposed raise in the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2022 (FY 2022) budget request holds. The $6 trillion proposal, published by the White House on May 28, proposes a 16 percent rise in nondefense discretionary spending over FY 2021 levels. Defense spending would see a modest bump of 1.7 percent from FY 2021.

In a media statement, NARFE National President Ken Thomas applauded the administration’s proposed 2.7 percent average pay increase for federal employees, and Thomas urged Congress to follow suit in the coming months and approve the raise. Thomas also noted that the proposal recognizes and respects hard-working civil servants, who have “rededicated themselves to performing at high levels while weathering a global pandemic,” and that meaningful, market-based pay raise are key to improving federal recruitment and retention into the future.

The request also asks Congress to appropriate money for an Information Technology Working Capital Fund for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which would provide the agency with additional funding to drive information technology modernization and increased efficiency in human capital management. OPM, the federal government’s chief human resources agency, has been seeking to modernize and improve its IT for years but has been met with repeated roadblocks, as detailed in a recent report from the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). While the administration’s proposal is a step in the right direction, NARFE recommends Congress put sufficient guardrails on its appropriations to ensure effective use of any new money.

Additionally, the budget proposes investing $500 million in the federal government’s Technology Modernization Fund, while the burgeoning Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would receive an additional $110 million towards its efforts to improve cybersecurity. Another $750 million would be allocated to “additional investments tailored to respond to lessons learned from the SolarWinds incident.”

Beyond provisions affecting the federal community, the budget proposes $8.7 billion in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to improve the agency’s readiness to tackle “future public health crises,” similar to the COVID-19 pandemic. The administration also plans to launch a new $6.5 billion research project, dubbed the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, that will focus on “health breakthroughs” in cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.