[Reexamination of Appropriations Rider Limitation on Pay Increases]

The Chairman of the Judicial Branch of the Judicial Conference Committee requested reexamination of prior decisions concerning pay increases for federal judges to decide whether an amendment which Congress passed to preclude pay increases without specific authorization was permanent. GAO found that: (1) despite new evidence that the legislation's sponsor intended that the amendment expire with the appropriation act to which it was attached, Congress had expressed its intention at the time of the amendment's passage that it be permanent; and (2) federal judges are not entitled to pay increases unless Congress specifically authorizes them. GAO noted that: (1) Congress' principal concern in enacting the amendment appears to have been to prevent pay increases to judges which were delayed or denied to other high-level federal officials; (2) Congress probably did not intend to deny federal judges the same comparability increases provided to other federal employees; and (3) it submitted proposed language for amending the statutes governing federal judges' pay to Congress. Accordingly, the prior decisions were affirmed.