A couple of weeks ago there was a story of how Bush was cutting pay raises for federal workers to 1.5-2 percent. I guess one could argue that the huge deficits Bush created meant there was no money for pay raises...

Oh, wait, Bush said "Such cost increases would threaten our efforts against terrorism ..." [quote from above article]

Fine. After about a 45-second search on the FDA website, an organization that will have to deal with this salary issue, I found this page called Countering Bioterrorism

"The President's initiative on Countering Bioterrorism is comprised of a number of essential elements for which [the FDA] plays an integral role. One such element is the expeditious development and licensing of products to diagnose, treat or prevent outbreaks from exposure to the pathogens that have been identified as bioterrorist agents. These products must be reviewed and approved prior to the large-scale productions necessary to create and maintain a stockpile. Staff must guide the products through the regulatory process, including the manufacturing process, pre-clinical testing, clinical trials, and the licensing and approval process. Experts in these areas are needed to expedite the licensing and approval process for these products. This process is extremely complex and early involvement by staff is crucial to the success of the expedited review process."

So in order to save money to fight the war in terror, funds must be cut for fighting the war on terror. Maybe this makes sense to Bush...

BTW, about a week later Congress approved a 2.2 percent pay raise for themselves.