{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399938", "<span class=\"kicker\">Courier Post Reports on Smith Efforts for Jt. Base Workers:</span>'Pay hike for 600 at Joint Base'", "2016-11-30", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Courier Post Reports on Smith Efforts for Jt. Base Workers:'Pay hike for 600 at Joint Base' \r\n   \r\n    \r\n       \r\n      \r\n  \r\n    \r\n      f \r\n      t \r\n      #\r\n      e\r\n      \r\n      \r\n    \r\n    \r\n      \r\n        Freehold, NJ,\r\n        Nov 30, 2016\r\n      \r\n       \r\n    \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n    \r\n    \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n      \r\n    \r\n  \r\n  \r\n    \r\n      \r\n      \r\n      \r\nBy Carol Comegno, Courier-Post Staff Writer -\u00a0Hundreds of civilian employees will be getting a holiday present\u2014an automatic raise in their pay scales to bring them in line with the higher federal scale of the New York region.The shift to a higher compensation scale will benefit 600 federal Civil Service workers on the Army and Air Force sections of the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County on what used to be Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base. It will bring them to parity with employees at the naval air installation in the base's Lakehurst section in Ocean County, which is already on the New York locality pay scale as are all the white collar workers across the entire base.\r\nIn a\u00a0joint statement, Reps. Chris Smith and Thomas MacArthur, both R-N.J., said the U.S. Office of Personnel Management will issue regulations\u00a0Wednesday to effect the shift for wage grade (WG) system employees. The switch takes place Jan.1\r\n\u201cJoint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is one installation and the men and women who work there are part of one workforce,\u201d said Smith, who represents half of the Joint Base and who authored the Joint Base Pay Parity Act that was never fully implemented. \u201cIt means the men and women of the Joint Base\u2019s workforce will finally be paid equally and fairly.\"The joint base is the largest employer in the state, second only to the state government, and contributes $6.9 billion annually to the regional economy.This article was orginal published on Nov. 30 by the Courier Post and can be found at;\r\nhttp://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2016/11/29/pay-hike-600-joint-base/94636958/\r\n\r\n\r\n    \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n    \r\n      f \r\n      t \r\n      #\r\n      e", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399938"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9353118948638439, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}