Citizens Voice: Congress targets federal workers for savings

[Patricia M. McBride]

Imagine that?   About time I would think, since public sector workers have been exempt from any of the pain associated with horrid economic conditions.  Perhaps by doing this, we can attack the problem of public workers earning far more than their private sector equals. 

 

Feb 21, 2012

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal workers were $15 billion losers as Congress looked for ways to pay for parts of the just-passed legislation to extend the payroll tax cut and federal unemployment benefits through the end of the year.

Their advocates are crying foul, saying two consecutive years of seeing their pay frozen means the nation's 2 million civil servants already have contributed more than $60 billion to reducing government costs. Republicans, led by their aggressive freshman class, say federal employees, with their generally secure jobs and benefits, can do more. They have proposed several bills to make that happen.

The White House also is asking federal employees to pitch in more for their retirement plans.

Under the bill passed Friday, about half of the $30 billion cost of extending unemployment benefits will be made up by requiring newly hired federal workers to pay an additional 2.3 percent of their salaries for their pensions. Currently they pay 0.8 percent.

Combined with other bills House Republicans have proposed to further limit federal wages and benefits, the total cost to civil servants could be $134 billion over the next decade, said House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland.

"The ongoing efforts to target federal workers will substantially undermine our ability to recruit and retain the quality of people we need," said Hoyer, whose district encompassing some of the Washington suburbs is home to thousands of government employees.

Unions representing federal workers were equally upset.

"It is unreasonable to turn to this dedicated workforce yet again while shielding those who are not paying their share," said Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union.

"I don't know how cutting our retirement puts anybody back to work," said John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees. "What are we, an ATM machine?"

Republicans in December proposed an even more ambitious plan to pay for part of the payroll tax and jobless benefit bill by freezing government workers' pay a third consecutive year and reducing pension benefits in addition to raising their retirement plan contributions.

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