Dougan Blasts Sen. Corker’s Fiscal Cliff Plan as “Greatest Hits Album of Anti-Federal Employee Policies

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cory Bythrow, Communications Director

Phone: (202) 216-4458

Washington, D.C. – Today, William R. Dougan, National President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a national union representing 110,000 federal employees in 40 separate departments and agencies, blasted a recent proposal by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) relying heavily on federal workforce cuts as a means to avoid the fiscal cliff. The $4.5 trillion proposal includes $397 billion in cuts to the workforce.

Corker’s proposal, announced in a recent Washington Post op-ed, includes a litany of anti-federal employee measures that have been proposed over the past several years, including workforce reduction through attrition, extending the pay freeze through 2015, increasing employee pension contributions, and turning FEHB into a voucher program. In response, Dougan issued the following statement:

“A problem as serious as the fiscal cliff deserves serious solutions, and Sen. Corker’s proposal sadly falls short of that mark. Though his proposal contains many promising provisions such as capping tax deductions and means-testing entitlements, the remainder reads like a greatest hits album of anti-federal employee policies. Under Sen. Corker’s proposal federal workers would pay more for healthcare, more for retirement, and do it all on a smaller paycheck – that is, if they still have a job.

A shared crisis calls for shared sacrifice, and federal employees are the only group to step up to the plate thus far and pay their share. Federal employees have already sacrificed $103 billion in cuts to their pay and retirement to help our nation get its fiscal house in order. Calling on middle class federal workers to sacrifice another $397 billion in cuts while refusing to ask for even a dime of increase in marginal tax rates on the wealthiest among us is simply inexcusable. Federal employees are struggling just like everyone else in this economy – they simply cannot afford deeper cuts.

My message to Senator Corker is this: The path to a sustainable fiscal course can’t be found inside the federal employee wallet. Do the right thing for our nation’s middle class, and put a stop to the unfair attacks on federal workers and their families.”

Read Sen. Corker’s Proposal: http://www.corker.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/5eb76323-b7c2-4405-822b-e68890ca3593/Fiscal_Reform_Act_of_2012_Summary.pdf

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Comments

CAM 12/04/12 11:04 am

Shame on you Corker!

I hear you Becky!!! I am a GS-6 technician with 23 years of service, and we already have cancelled our satelite radio and TV subscriptions. I have to cancel my family health insurance when I'm laid off because I can't afford to pay double when I come back to work, so my family has no insurance for up to 6 months a year. We still have our phone/internet service because it's the only link we have with the outside world as we live in a very remote place and don't even have newspaper delivery. What Corker and his fellow cronies are trying to do is appalling and they must be very misinformed. We are TAX PAYING, hard working, middle class citizens of this country who chose to serve the public and care for the land by going to work for a federal agency instead of the private sector, and now it seems like we are being hurt and punished for our career decisions. Shame on him.

Maggie 12/03/12 1:04 pm

IS ANYBODY ON THE HILL LISTENING!!

Becky St Claire 12/03/12 9:38 am

Additional Cuts to Federal Workforce and Pay

It amazes me that it seems as thought our legislators seem clueless and detached from reality of the middle classes. They do not seem to realize that what we do is for the citizens of this United States and our wages are spent in local economies. If they can't work out an equitable resolve many of the affected civil servents will have less money to spend, not only on discrestionary spending but even for necessary expenses. I am a GS 7 with 23 plus years of service and am getting to the point where I am consider ing cutting my insurance benefits, my retirement contributions as well as things such as cancelling my home internet service. I can't take anymore attacks to my wages and benefits.

Dianna Knadel 12/03/12 9:27 am

Sen. Corker's Proposal

Has Sen Corker looked at his peers and himself to start helping to pay for their own retirement and health care to help with this problem? That is what the federal workers and the rest of the United States workers do.

He might also consider that just because he and his peers serve one term in office, whether it is in the senate, congress or the president, they should not get retirement for life. Most of us have to work all our lives to get retirement and if we switch jobs the money the employer and the employee puts into the retirement account has to be moved to an IRA or some other form of retirement account for us to keep it. The employeers do not have to pay for the life of the employee.

Maybe our law makers in Washington need to start living like the rest of the United States and pay their fair share of health and retirement privileges.

Annette 11/30/12 2:45 pm

I am not a Republican and am not wealthy, I am of the 99% and I am among many who contribute to this society, especially serving veterans who have gone to the battlefields to fight for this country's freedom and safety. The Department of Veterans Affairs needs to be able to attract and retain qualified credentialed health care professionals to produce optimum results in health care delivery. Therefore, we must retain the staff we already have, at least. Extending the pay freeze for federal workers puts them closer to homelessness and financial ruin. Most federal workers rent in places that do not have rent control and cannot afford to pay the rent increases. I, for one, have first-hand experience with this which is why I'm moving to another city due to the cost of living, not that this new city is much less expensive. People who are experiencing cost of living expenses without a pay increase are working excessive overtime putting their health and the health of others in jeopardy. I'm convinced there are creative solutions to supporting federal workers as well as getting a grip on what the public is told is the "fiscal cliff".

Dougan Blasts Sen. Corker’s Fiscal Cliff Plan as “Greatest Hits Album of Anti-Federal Employee Policies

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