From AFSA President John Naland

1. Summary: AFSA and the Department have made dramatic progress over the past month in our all-out effort to convince Congress and the Bush Administration to end the overseas pay gap. However, the legislation must overcome several more stumbling blocks in order to be voted on in an expected post-election session of Congress. While success is far from certain, AFSA, State Management, and non-partisan group of lawmakers in both the Senate and House are pushing hard to try to secure enactment into law by year's end. End of Summary.

HILL ACTION

2. As I have previously reported, the AFSA-supported "Foreign Service Overseas Pay Equity Act of 2008" (H.R. 3202 which was originally offered by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)) was approved on July 16 by the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) on a voice vote with bi-partisan support and no opposition. The bill would give overseas junior and mid-level Foreign Service members that same comparability pay adjustment that is afforded to colleagues assigned to the District of Columbia (overseas Senior Foreign Service members started receiving such treatment in 2005). The bill proposes to close one-third of the pay gap in FY09, another third in October 2010, and the final third in October 2011.

3. I am delighted to report that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) on September 23 passed an almost identical version of the House bill (assigned Senate bill number S. 3426 when offered by Senator John Kerry (D-MA)) on a voice vote with bi-partisan support and no opposition. Like the HFAC vote, the SFRC action is a result of expanding awareness on Capitol Hill that the large and growing cut in base pay imposed on the junior and mid-level Foreign Service is a serious disincentive to overseas service.

4. The current 20.89 percent overseas pay gap undermines, and often totally negates, traditional hardship and danger pay allowances. AFSA calculates that junior and mid-level Foreign Service members now take a pay cut to serve at 183 of 268 overseas posts (68 percent), including danger pay posts Amman, Bogota, and Tel Aviv. At another 42 posts -- those at the 25 percent hardship level -- the net incentive is now under four percent and will drop below zero as early as January 2010 unless the overseas pay gap is closed. This would subject junior and mid-level employees at 84 percent of oversees posts to what is, in effect, a Foreign Service disincentive pay.

5. Losing the equivalent of one year’s salary for every four or five years served abroad has devastating long-term financial consequences. This is especially true for Foreign Service families already suffering the loss of income from a spouse who cannot find employment overseas. Add that to the fact that almost all current junior and mid-level Foreign Service members are required to be in the "new" retirement system that depends on the vulnerable Thrift Savings Plan to provide the majority of retirement income, and we have a "perfect storm" of financial disincentives to join and remain in the Foreign Service.

AFSA ACTION

6. Immediately after the SFRC passed the AFSA-supported pay gap bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) placed the bill on a fast track for a vote by the full Senate. That procedure, reasonably enough, allows any Senator who has unanswered questions about a bill to place a "hold" on a final vote until those questions are answered. AFSA learned that at least one Senator placed such a hold on the pay gap bill. Because Senate tradition prohibited our supporters on the Hill from telling us who placed the hold, AFSA's Director of Legislative Affairs Ian Houston began making scores of calls to retired Foreign Service members in several states asking them to help us find out, as well as lobby for passage of the bill. In short order, as calls flooded into several Senate offices from Foreign Service constituents, the office of Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) confirmed that he had placed a hold. AFSA is grateful to all of our members who stepped up on short notice to make these calls.

7. At that point, we reached out to Senator Coburn's staff offering to answer questions that they had about the details of the bill and the growing problem that it addresses. These contacts built on our previous outreach to the Senator's office over the past two years.

STATE ACTION

8. The evening of Friday, September 26, I reached out to our nation's senior career diplomat, Under Secretary for Political Affairs Bill Burns, to brief him on the status of AFSA's efforts to advance the pay gap legislation. We understand that since then, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy, USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore, and subject matter experts on their staffs made a series of calls to key members on the Hill and their staff to push for passage. Secretary Rice, in particular, used her uniquely influential position to personally advocate with key lawmakers in an effort to advance the bill. We understand that the Department is briefing key staffers again this week, in an attempt to overcome their concerns.

NEXT STEPS

9. Unfortunately, in events reminiscent of late 2006 when the 109th Congress failed to advance a pay gap fix due to last minute questions by a few lawmakers, time ran out last week for Senate and House action before the lawmakers broke for the pre-election recess. This time, however, while success is far from certain, our effort is still alive. The Senate plans to return for a short session beginning around November 17. While it is still uncertain, the House is also expected to return after the election.

10. AFSA continues to make ourselves available to Senator Coburn's staff (and to any other Senate offices) to answer any additional questions about the pay gap bill. Soon, however, we will have provided all of the background information that exists. At that point, AFSA urges the Senator to lift his hold so that he and his colleagues may vote on the bill.

11. In the House, AFSA continues to work with the bi-partisan group of lawmakers who support closing the overseas pay gap. We see strong backing from the Majority Leadership. We stand ready to answer any questions that the Minority Leadership or other Republican lawmakers might have. Given the number of Republicans supporting our bill -- including HFAC Ranking Member Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) -- we hope for bi-partisan support in a House floor vote.

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