The Obama administration is renewing its call for a $200,000 cap on allowable contractor compensation.

“As a result of skyrocketing CEO pay, the tab for taxpayers has soared to unreasonable heights,” Lesley Field, acting administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, wrote in a blog post.

The current cap of nearly $694,000 is set by a statutory formula based on the pay of private-sector CEOs. Field said the cap has increased by 250% since 1995 and is due to be raised again this year by tens of thousands of dollars.

President Obama first proposed the $200,000 cap last year. That is roughly equal to the salaries of Cabinet members. The Senate voted for a $400,000 cap, but Congress ended up leaving the amount unchanged while expanding the cap to cover all contractor employees, not just the five highest-paid executives.

The administration’s renewed push came as Congress was considering extending the pay freeze for federal employees for a third year. The House has approved the extension.

Industry officials have argued that the higher pay is justified because contractors must compete with other companies for talent. The cap is the amount the government will reimburse on cost-based contracts; it does not affect how much companies can pay their employees.

“As part of the Obama Administration’s Campaign to Cut Waste, we have targeted inefficient spending in contracting across the Federal Government and finally put an end to the uncontrolled growth in contracting spending that occurred during the prior Administration,” Field wrote. “As part of these efforts, we must also stop overpaying contractors.”