New Budget Proposal Offers Deepest Cuts Yet to Federal Workforce, Benefits
Tuesday, July 19, 2011(National Federation of Federal Employees)
Monday,
Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma
released a far-reaching budget proposal that
seeks to cut $9 trillion dollars from federal
programs over the next decade. To fund these
massive reductions, the Senator proposed the
deepest cuts yet to federal agencies and their
workers.
The
proposal would reduce the number of federal
employees by a full fifteen percent, reducing
the number of workers by 300,000 in ten years.
It would do so by hiring just two workers for
every three who leave, an approach many Congressional Republicans
have embraced this past
year.
In
addition to draconian reductions in the number
of workers, the measure would also extend the
widely unpopular pay freeze by another year.
Coburn further recommends freezing merit
bonuses through 2013 and locality pay through
2017. With regard to benefits, the proposal
would limit federal workers' ability to carry
over sick leave from one year to the next.
In this
sweeping measure, even retirees would not
escape the Senator’s budget axe. His plan would
alter the formula used to calculate retirees’
annual cost-of-living adjustment, lowering the
vital adjustments needed to live on a fixed
income.
“I’m not
surprised by this latest proposal,” said NFFE
Legislative Director Randy Erwin. “Each
budget plan being offered is more outlandish
than the last, and as usual, federal workers
are in the crosshairs. I’m sick and tired
of lawmakers protecting their special interests
and pet projects then turning around and asking
federal workers to pay for it. Now
they’re going after federal retirees
too. This Coburn budget is unacceptable,
and every federal worker – current or retired –
should be outraged by
it.”
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