Congressional Budget Office Releases Report on Domestic Partner Benefits Bill; President Dougan Calls for Action
Wednesday, May 19, 2010(National Federation of Federal Employees)
Expanding full benefits to domestic
partners of federal employees will cost a total
of $101 million dollars in direct spending over
the next five years, according to a recent
report issued by the Congressional Budget
Office.
The
bill, formally known as the Domestic
Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of
2009 (S. 1102), would make same-sex domestic
partners of federal employees eligible
to
receive
the same employment benefits as married spouses
of federal employees.
Those
benefits
include health insurance, survivor annuities,
dental and vision benefits, life insurance, and
workers’ compensation.
Currently, domestic partners of federal
employees are not entitled to any of the
aforementioned benefits. Since benefits
comprise a great deal of federal employee
compensation, this disparity effectively denies
federal employees with domestic partners equal
pay for equal work.
“This is
fundamentally an issue of fairness and
equality,” said NFFE National President William
R. Dougan. “Gay and lesbian employees work just
as long and just as hard as their heterosexual
counterparts and they deserve their fair share.
NFFE will continue to fight hard to ensure that
this bill becomes law.”
Late
last year, the House version of the bill, H.R.
2517, was passed by the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee by a wide margin.
The Senate version also advanced out of
committee by a steep bipartisan majority. There
is little indication thus far when the bills
are expected to be brought up for a vote in
either chamber of
Congress.
"We
hope to see this legislation passed into law
during this session of Congress," said NFFE
Legislative Director Randy Erwin. "It is past
time for Congress to address this injustice in
the federal workforce."