House Approves Defense Authorization Bill Repealing NSPS; Senate Nearing a Vote
Friday, October 9, 2009(National Federation of Federal Employees)
Thursday, the House
of Representatives passed the conference report
on the FY 2010 Defense Authorization Act, which
includes provisions to repeal the National
Security Personnel System (NSPS) and convert
the over 200,000 employees enrolled under the
program back into existing pay systems.
The
legislation also contains provisions giving
retiring employees enrolled in the Federal
Employee Retirement System (FERS) credit for
their unused sick leave and extends locality
pay to workers stationed outside of the
mainland United States.
Yesterday,
NFFE National President William R. Dougan
penned letters to both the House and Senate
calling for swift passage of the
bill.
“Our union
believes that these provisions and the
repealing of NSPS are central to improving the
lives of countless federal employees and to
enhancing the performance of DoD,”
wrote Dougan, urging Senate lawmakers to
pass the key legislation. “As such, we fully
endorse the conference report and urge you to
do the same when the report comes to the Senate
floor.”
The bill,
arguably the most important for federal
employees in years, will now be subject to
approval by the Senate. Sources on Capitol Hill
suggest that the Senate will consider the
legislation sometime early next week.
While Senate passage is likely, there is a
possibility of provisions unrelated to the
federal workforce sinking the bill in the
Senate.
“We are very
close to passing the most important piece of
legislation for federal workers in the last
decade,” said NFFE Legislative Director Randy
Erwin. “NFFE members should be calling
their Senators and asking them to support the
Defense Authorization conference
report.”
You can call your Senators by dialing the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Click Here to View NFFE's Letter to the Senate