Except as provided in subsection (b) and by the Government Employees Salary Reform Act of 1964 (78 Stat. 400) and notwithstanding the provisions of other statutes, the head of an Executive agency or military department who is authorized to fix by administrative action the annual rate of basic pay for a position or employee may not fix the rate at more than the rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule. This section does not impair the authorities provided by—

(1) sections 248, 482, 1766, and 1819 of title 12, section 206 of the Bank Conservation Act, sections 2B(b) [1] and 21A(e)(4)  of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act, section 2A(i)  of the Home Owners’ Loan Act, and sections 5.11 and 5.58 of the Farm Credit Act of 1971;

(2) section 831b of title 16;

(3) sections 403a–403c, 403e–403h, and 403j of title 50; 1 or

(4)  [2] section 4802.

(4)  2 section 2(a)(7) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 2(a)(7)).

Subsection (a) shall not affect the authority of the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of a military department to fix the pay of a civilian employee paid from nonappropriated funds, except that the annual rate of basic pay (including any portion of such pay attributable to comparability with private-sector pay in a locality) of such an employee may not be fixed at a rate greater than the rate for level III of the Executive Schedule.

(Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 473, § 5363; renumbered § 5373, Pub. L. 95–454, title VIII, § 801(a)(3)(A)(ii), Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1221; Pub. L. 96–70, title III, § 3302(e)(4), Sept. 27, 1979, 93 Stat. 498; Pub. L. 101–73, title VII, § 742(b), title XII, § 1209, Aug. 9, 1989, 103 Stat. 437, 523; Pub. L. 101–509, title V, § 529 [title I, § 101(b)(9)(H)], Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1427, 1441; Pub. L. 104–201, div. C, title XXXV, § 3548(a)(4), Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2868; Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title XI, § 1102, Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 776; Pub. L. 107–123, § 8(d)(1)(C), Jan. 16, 2002, 115 Stat. 2399; Pub. L. 107–171, title X, § 10702(c)(3), May 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 517.)