7/25/07: Yet another approval by a key congressional body—the House Appropriations Committee—of a 3.5 percent 2008 pay raise for members of the military is further evidence of the strong bipartisan support for pay parity and a pay increase higher than proposed by the administration. NTEU strongly supports this latest action, in the markup of the 2008 Defense Appropriations bill, to provide a 3.5 percent military pay raise in 2008, and calls upon the full House to approve the measure. At each step of the legislative process thus far dealing with both military and federal civilian pay, both House members and senators have supported a 3.5 percent raise for the military and federal civilian employees, despite the administration’s proposal of only a 3 percent raise. NTEU will continue its efforts to turn this bipartisan support into a fair pay raise, amounting to 3.5 percent, for both groups of federal employees, who work side-by-side in defending our homeland and faithfully serving our country.