The Foreign Service and a New Worldwide Compensation System


 

Publication Date: February 2007

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

Type:

Abstract:

At a time when increasing numbers of Foreign Service personnel are going to posts of greater hardship and danger, an 18.5% pay differential that currently exists between service in Washington, DC, and service abroad is impacting morale and assignment considerations. Provisions implementing a new compensation system to address this issue were developed and supported by the George W. Bush administration, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), and the bipartisan leadership of both the House Committee on International Relations (HIRC) and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (SFRC). These provisions, which were to be part of the Department of State Authorities Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-472; H.R. 6060), were dropped from the final version of the bill because of House Republican Leadership concerns over the five-year cost of implementing the new compensation system.

The Bush administration, AFSA, and the leadership of both HIRC and the SFRC were in discussion and negotiations for more than a year before developing the consensus compensation provisions. These provisions, the Foreign Service Compensation Reform proposal, would institute a new worldwide, performancebased system for the Foreign Service that would be tied to Washington, DC, salary rates. The compromise language addressed two outstanding issues -- the moraleimpacting pay disparity, and the institution of a performance-based pay system that the Administration believed would improve the Service. The Administration, once again, requested enactment of a new worldwide, performance-based, compensation system in its fiscal year 2008 budget request.

The concepts behind the agreed upon Foreign Service compensation system have wide support. However, support is not unanimous. Some members of the Foreign Service are concerned about the elimination of automatic pay increases that are inherent to the proposed performance-based system. Others question the Administration's intent with regard to the rights of labor. Further, House Republican Leadership expressed concerns regarding the reaction of some of the more fiscally conservatives Members to the more than $500 million five-year cost that is associated with the full implementation of this new compensation system.

This report discusses (1) the background leading to a proposal to change the compensation system from both an Administration and Foreign Service perspective, (2) the current Foreign Service (FS) System as established in the Foreign Service Act of 1980 and why the Foreign Service views its personnel system as already a performance-based system, (3) the 109th Congress agreements on this legislation, (4) major issues that remained to be resolved in arriving at the agreement, (5) continuing concerns, and (6) cost estimates.