American Notes Washington

Uncle Sam may be running some $200 billion in the red, but the Federal Government's top 3,037 officials ought to get raises -- and big ones. So said a presidential commission report submitted to Ronald Reagan last week recommending nearly $150 million in pay increases for, among others, Cabinet members (from $88,800 to $160,000) and Congressmen (from $77,400 to $135,000). The proposed raises, argued the commission, will reverse a 17-year, 41% decline in federal employees' purchasing power and make Government service more attractive. Reagan is expected to scale down the upper pay levels to around $100,000 before sending them on to Congress. Grumbled Consumer Activist Ralph Nader: "Nothing is so absurd as the assertion that these officials can't get by on pay and benefits equal to five times the income of the average American worker."