AFSA: Closing the Overseas Pay Gap

1. We have a major success to report in the long-standing effort to close the overseas pay gap suffered by entry-level and mid-level Foreign Service members stationed abroad. Legislative language to begin to close the pay gap is contained in the 2009 Supplemental for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Pandemic Flu that has now cleared the House and Senate and is headed for an expected Presidential signature in the coming days.

2. To recap how we got here: Funding to begin to close the pay gap was appropriated this spring in the FY09 omnibus appropriation bill. However, authorization legislation to permit the expenditure of those funds was still lacking. Late last year, AFSA and key allies convinced the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee -- on a unanimous, bipartisan basis -- to approve bills containing the needed authorization. While those bills never gained final passage, it is now clear that getting them through the two committees was a key development that set the stage for supporters to place funding in the FY09 omnibus appropriations and attach the
necessary authorization language to the must-pass war supplemental bill.

3. Once the President signs the bill into law, AFSA understands that State will move swiftly to close approximately one third of the current 23.1 percent gap. USAID, FAS, FCS, and IBB management will need to take similar steps. AFSA understands that USAID has sufficient funding for the remainder of FY09 to do so. While FY09 funding for FAS, FCS, and IBB is tight, implementing this for their relatively small number of
overseas non-senior Foreign Service members will have a modest budgetary impact. AFSA is asking State management to reach out to the other foreign affairs agencies to encourage consistency and uniformity in the implementation of this new Foreign Service-wide pay policy.

4. AFSA understands that the new pay will be treated as base pay so that, for example, the dollar value of hardship differentials based on the new higher base pay will themselves rise. We further understand that, during an anticipated three year phase-in period, current practices will not change for calculating virtual locality pay for annuity computation purposes.

5. One complication is that the legislation will apply only to FY09 and will thus expire this October 1. There is no way to avoid that since language in an appropriations bill is only valid for the year covered. Thus, new language will need to pass later this year to continue the three-year implementation. Several legislative vehicles exist that could accomplish that. AFSA and our allies will work to get that accomplished.

6. AFSA has many allies to thank for getting us to the brink of an important victory on this top priority goal: -- In the Senate, special thanks go to Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and the Ranking Republican Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH). We are also grateful for the work of Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) and committee Ranking Republican Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN). Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia Chairman Daniel Akaka
(D-HI) and subcommittee Ranking Republican Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) deserve great credit for their ongoing support. In addition, we appreciate the support of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for their support at key moments.

-- In the House of Representatives, we recognize the leadership of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and committee Ranking Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). We recognize HFAC members Rep. Don Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY). And a special thanks to Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) who has been a long time advocate for a solution. We appreciate the support of Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs and subcommittee Ranking Republican Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX). Also, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), and House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) all made important contributions
at critical junctures.

-- In the Executive Branch, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton led the final successful push to secure legislation to close the overseas pay gap. During her tenure and also that of her predecessor, State’s senior management team worked actively behind the scenes to advance these efforts.

-- Last but not least, we thank those AFSA members (active duty and retired) who stepped up to the plate at various times in recent years to write to, or meet with, lawmakers to raise the pay gap issue. We thank the many members who provided vital support to AFSA’s lobbying efforts via their financial contributions to AFSA’s Legislative Action Fund. We thank those in the news media, the Government Accountability Office, and the Congressional Research Service who took the time to understand this issue and provide independent validation of the seriousness of the
pay gap problem. We give special thanks to AFSA Legislative Director Ian Houston (recently promoted to be AFSA Executive Director) whose persistence and persuasive abilities were vital to our success on Capitol Hill.

7. A final comment. On the eve of resigning the AFSA Presidency on June 12 to transfer overseas, John Naland left this note: “The effort to close the overseas pay gap began on February 16, 2001 when the Washington Post’s Federal Diary noted that CIA employees, but not Foreign Service members, receive Washington D.C.-based comparability pay when serving abroad. I, as then AFSA State Vice President, was the
source of that unclassified information which began the public discussion about pay equity for diplomats. Having been present at the start of this effort, I am delighted to see it headed to a successful, if long overdue, conclusion.”