Reuters: Politics: Top lawmaker looks to rein in military contractors' pay

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Top lawmaker looks to rein in military contractors' pay Jun 3rd 2013, 17:26 By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON | Mon Jun 3, 2013 1:26pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A powerful lawmaker said on Monday he was including a provision seeking to rein in the amount corporate executives can make from military contracts in the fiscal 2014 defense spending bill that Congress is expected to finalize in the coming weeks. Republican Representative Howard McKeon of California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, included the plan on Monday in his version of the fiscal 2014 defense authorization act. The full committee will review the act on Wednesday. McKeon's plan includes a provision that would prevent the largest defense contractors from including any compensation for their five top executives in their contracts. It also would cap at $763,000 per year the amount that other employees could make in a contract, and tie any increase in that amount to growth in the economy, pulling back from current law, which would have allowed it to rise to $900,000 next year. "The real issue here is getting the cutoff point back to a sane point," a senior committee aide told reporters before the plan was released. The top executives at big defense companies, such as Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, Northrop Grumman Corp, and General Dynamics Co, can make $15 million to $32 million in total compensation. Federal spending cuts in other areas - including reductions in defense spending and furloughs and pay freezes for government employees - have fueled the push for controls on the amount that executives at private companies make under military contracts. Aides said the measure had bipartisan support, and some version was expected to pass both the Republican-controlled House and the Senate, where Democrats hold a majority of the seats, as they consider the final version of the bill. The White House also supports more control on contractors' pay. President Barack Obama's 2014 budget asks Congress to set a $400,000 annual limit on the amount of executive pay the government will reimburse federal contractors. (Editing by Ros Krasny and Mohammad Zargham) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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