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What specific provisions in the 2025 bill would directly affect registered nurse (RN) base pay and wage scales?
Executive summary
The documents in the search set do not include a single consolidated “2025 bill” text aimed specifically at civilian registered‑nurse (RN) base pay; instead, available federal materials show two separate arenas that change RN pay: [1] OPM’s 2025 federal pay schedules (including an RN salary table and a 1.7% General Schedule raise and locality methodology) that directly set base pay for federal RNs paid under statutory schedules (see OPM pay schedules and RN table) [2] [3], and [4] health‑care market and employer survey reports showing typical private‑sector RN wage trends (median increases around 3–4%) that affect nonfederal employers rather than statutory federal base pay [5] [6]. Available sources do not present a single “2025 bill” that changes RN base pay across all employers; they instead show executive/OPM adjustments for federal pay and separate market surveys for private RN wage trends [2] [3] [5].
1. OPM executive orders and pay schedules: how federal RN base pay is set
Federal civilian RN base pay for employees paid under statutory pay systems is adjusted by the Office of Personnel Management’s implementation of presidential pay orders and published pay schedules; the Federal Register notes a 1.7% across‑the‑board increase for General Schedule rates in 2025 and publishes locality percentages that modify base pay [2]. OPM also publishes a specific 2025 RN salary table that defines base pay levels for RNs covered by the Nurse Schedule—so any provision that alters federal RN base pay or the nurse pay table will be reflected in those OPM products [3] [2].
2. What OPM materials concretely change for federal RNs
The Federal Register/OPM materials establish: (a) a percentage increase to statutory pay systems (1.7% GS across‑the‑board for 2025) and (b) locality‑based comparability payments expressed as percentages that are applied to base pay in specific geographic pay localities (locality ranges noted for 2025) [2]. The RN salary table is the explicit schedule used to compute base pay steps and ranges for federal RNs; changes to that table or to locality multipliers would directly change federal RN base pay [3] [2].
3. The NDAA and military pay changes are separate and do not directly set civilian RN wages
The FY2025 NDAA and related legislative action focused on uniformed‑service basic pay increases (for example, a 4.5% across‑the‑board increase for servicemembers and additional junior enlisted boosts) —these affect military pay tables, not civilian RN pay scales in hospitals or federal RN schedules unless a particular RN is a uniformed medical officer or otherwise on a military pay table [7] [8] [9]. Reporting shows large enlisted increases in 2025, but that is distinct from OPM civilian RN pay rules [7] [8].
4. Private‑sector RN wage changes come from market forces and employer bargaining
Independent compensation surveys and professional groups report median RN base pay increases of roughly 3–4% for 2025 in medical groups and consulting benchmarks (SullivanCotter, MGMA), and union agreements show discrete negotiated increases at state or system level—these are employer actions or collective‑bargaining outcomes rather than single federal statutory “bill” provisions changing base pay nationwide [5] [6] [10]. That means for most RNs, wage‑scale changes will result from local contracts, employer budget decisions, and market competition—not a single federal statute [5] [6].
5. What to look for if you want a provision that “directly affects RN base pay”
If a user asks which provisions would directly change RN base pay, the sources indicate two concrete levers: (a) amendments to OPM pay schedules (e.g., adjustments to the RN salary table or to locality payment percentages) that directly change federal RN base pay [3] [2]; and (b) statutory changes that explicitly alter compensation for uniformed or VA nurses by placing them under a different pay table or increasing the Executive Schedule caps, which OPM documents reference when limiting rates [11]. Available sources do not cite a separate 2025 statute that reworked civilian RN wage tables nationwide outside these channels [2] [3].
6. Limitations, competing perspectives, and where reporting is thin
Reporting in these search results provides clear OPM/Executive Order mechanics for federal pay [2] [3] and separate market survey evidence for private RN wage trends [5] [6]. However, the set does not include a comprehensive text of any single “2025 bill” claimed to overhaul RN pay across all employers; therefore, claims that a single 2025 legislative bill altered RN base pay for private‑sector RNs nationwide are not supported by the provided materials—available sources do not mention such a nationwide private‑sector wage mandate (not found in current reporting). When sources disagree about magnitudes (for example, survey medians vs. localized union raises), both viewpoints are present in the records above [5] [10].
If you want, I can extract the specific RN pay table rows from the OPM RN PDF [3] and show how a 1.7% GS raise plus locality percentages would change a sample RN step’s pay in a chosen locality [2] [3].