2 U.S.C. § 362 — Requirements applicable to recommendations

This section controls how pay-raise recommendations must be written for certain high offices, no matter what other parts of this chapter might say. It applies to recommendations the Commission sends to the President under section 357, and recommendations the President sends to Congress under section 358. (1) Any recommended pay adjustment must state the exact date the new pay would start. (2) That start date has limits. It cannot be earlier than January 1 of the second fiscal year after the Commission's review (done under section 356). It cannot be later than December 31 following the end of the fifth fiscal year after that review. (3)(A) Three groups of officials must each be recommended equal pay within their group: (i) The Speaker of the House, the Vice President, and the Chief Justice of the United States must all get the same recommended rate. (ii) The Senate's majority and minority leaders, the House's majority and minority leaders, the President pro tempore of the Senate, and officials in "Level I" of the Executive Schedule (a pay tier set in section 5312 of title 5) must all get the same recommended rate. (iii) Senators, House members, the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico, a Delegate to the House, federal district court judges, judges of the Court of International Trade, and officials in "Level II" of the Executive Schedule (section 5313 of title 5) must all get the same recommended rate. (B) This section does not force the President's recommendation under section 358 to match the Commission's recommendation under section 357 for the same office. The two can differ.