House Votes to Keep Pay Freezes for Federal Workers in Place USATODAY | 02/01/ 2012 WASHINGTON (AP) Republicans have pushed through the House a bill that would freeze the wages of federal workers for a third year and bar members of Congress from giving themselves a pay raise. Republican sponsors said their measure, which would freeze federal worker wages through 2013, would save taxpayers $26 billion. It would not apply to military personnel. Many Democrats objected to the freeze, arguing that federal workers already had done their part in reducing budget deficits. President Obama is expected to propose a 0.5% hike in federal employee wages in this 2013 budget proposal. But some Democrats were also reluctant to cast an election-year vote Wednesday that would suggest they support giving themselves a pay raise. The salaries of rank-and-file members of Congress has remained at $174,000 since 2009. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washin...federal-worker-congress-pay-freeze/52922820/1 . I think the freeze should be discarded and a cut in the Congresss $174,000 salary should be implimented ASAP. After all their screams about no more spending, a pay raise is uncalled for, and to do THEIR duty to bring down spending they should feel duty bound to cut their salary by $74,000 to better illustrate the austerity they are promoting for the rest of us. They should also cut the number of their staffs by 50% and do the work themselves to illustrate the austerity they are promoting for the rest of us. They should trim the perks, deductions, in their own IRS returns to pay their fair share of taxes. Also they should outlaw any more pork from the outrageous pork spending that the republicans engaged in, in 2010. That is money awarded to their consecutive states as lard to ensure the legislators re-election. Also they should bring to an immediate vote a bill that makes it illegal for any legislator to receive funds, perks, from a lobbyist, or any entity that causes the lobbyist to offer said funds. That no lobbyist should under penalty of law come within 1,000 feet of any Congressman or White House occupant.
While $26 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to what Obama has overspent, it is still $26 billion. Sorry if they wont be getting a raise this year,at least they did not have to take a 10% cut like I did last year.
The pay of Federal Workers has sky rocketed while the private sector has not. Of course they should be frozen. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOAgT8L_BqQ&list=LL2-iP7-j-iWj1E_MyyM9Hag&index=2&feature=plpp_video"]Special Interests...EXPOSED!!! - YouTube[/ame] We have far too many Federal workers making well over $150K under Barack Obama.
They haven't gotten a raise in three years. And unlike the private sector, they will never get a raise in the future to compensate for those lost years of cost of living adjustments. Yes, you may have had to take a cut... but that's the price of playing in the private market. You trade the risk of cuts for the potential for higher gains in the end. The federal workers accept stability instead--except they're not getting the raises they were originally promised. Note; not paying the federal workforce will just decrease the quality of the federal workforce... leading to less efficient and less effective implementation of the law. It makes the government worse in the long-run when we can't attract talented people into government service.
Kind of. Because of the way the federal pay scales work, they'll continue to advance steps within a grade, which means raises for individuals as a result of experience and seniority, but cuts for the workforce as a whole. What they've done is eliminate the across-the-board raises that get applied to that pay scale. They didn't abolish the pay scale itself, which would pretty much mean an outright revolt by the federal workforce. The long-term impact of this would be a shift upward in the grade for new workers. Rather than starting people as a G4, agencies will just start them in G5 positions, and so on.
I can get on board with all of this. The problem is that we have 535 dependents who get to make their own rules with virtually no oversight. Sadly, I see no way to stop the abuse. If there was a way that we, the citizens, could vote on their payscales and benefits, we might actually see improvement in Congress. Voting them out doesn't work. Recidivism is rampant. Between jerrymandered districts and the "we-need-to-vote-them-all-out-but-my-guy-is-OK" mentality, we'll never get the Congress we need. We're being stuck with the Congress that we deserve. Let's start by repealing the 17th Amendment.
most people where I work are happy to have a government job and except the freezes , we are very fortunate to have jobs in these hard times
While the private sector has been laid off and are collecting unemployment. They could be on a pay freeze for the next 5 years and make more than a comparable employee in the private sector who is actively working.
The real issue here is the long-term impact of continued pay cuts; it will make it more difficult to attract talented newcomers into federal service--which is already fairly difficult anyway. People perceive government service (outside the military) as somehow less than a job in the private sector. They have this mistaken impression that federal workers are lazy bums who get no opportunities to produce or make valued contributions to society. Which is itself quite false, and a substantial difficulty for recruitment. It doesn't help that the primary benefits of federal employment are the job security, job stability, and extensive benefits. Lately Congress has been waging an all-out war against all three points. Which will just lead to less capable people entering the federal bureaucracy, which will decrease efficiency and produce worse government services. In essence, Congress is forcing federal agencies to hire future employees above their proper grade in order to actually attract anyone into federal employment.
You think it hasn't been a bloodbath in federal agencies and aubcontractors? It's not all roses there either. But again, private sector employees made that choice to take greater risks in the private sector rather than seeking public sector employment. Private sector employees balance that promise of higher compensation against the risk of being left exposed to the market's discipline. Basically you're complaining that the folks who opted for stability rather than greater compensation are faring better in the present economic climate... which is really kind of sour grapes on your part, because you can't have your cake and eat it too. Nonsense. Government pay is well below compensation in the private sector for equivalent skills. Federal workers earn more than private sector workers on average because, on average, they have a hell of a lot more education and work experience than folks in the private sector. If you compare people with equivalent education and experience, federal workers get shafted.
Made what choice? It's not a cakewalk into a government position, especially if you are targeting a specific field. Nonsense. Quit propagating the lie. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news...-more-pay/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS MSNBC's report backs this up: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4619486...eral-workers-make-more-same-job/#.TysyMoF-9MQ